Capital Angel Network
Capital Angel Network is a nonprofit angel investor group in Ottawa, Canada, that backs early-stage Canadian startups. It is a generalist network rather than a water specialist, but its water exposure runs through two homegrown water-treatment companies. As of 2026 it has backed 2 water companies, both at the earliest stages.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Capital Angel Network is one of Canada's older angel groups, started in Ottawa in 2009 by a clutch of former high-tech operators who wanted to put their own money and scar tissue behind the next generation of founders. It is a network rather than a fund: more than 55 accredited members pool deal flow, run collaborative due diligence, and write cheques individually instead of from a single managed pool.
Capital Angel Network does not pitch itself as a water investor. CAN is a generalist that has backed med-tech, clean energy, food-tech and space startups up and down the Montreal-to-Waterloo innovation corridor. Its water exposure is deliberate but small, two early-stage Canadian water-treatment companies, both backed in 2025 at pre-seed and seed.
Capital Angel Network's two water bets tell you what catches its eye: a hard-science fix to a dirty-water problem. Xatoms pairs artificial intelligence with quantum chemistry to design light-activated materials that purify contaminated water using only sunlight, while Viridis Research builds electro-oxidation systems that strip organic contaminants out of wastewater. Both are Canadian, both were backed while still pre-commercial.
Capital Angel Network's edge is less about water than about its plumbing as a network. CAN co-founded SheBoot, a bootcamp that coaches women founders to raise, and roughly 37% of its memberships include a woman, a figure most angel groups would envy. For a newcomer investor, the real read is this: Capital Angel Network is a Canadian early-stage network whose water exposure is just beginning, and worth watching as more water founders move through its pipeline.
Water Commitment Score
Compiled from official filings, third-party records, and direct intelligence from investors and founders, in Leviathan · recomputed monthly · as of Jun 2026.
How they invest
Portfolio · 2 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does Capital Angel Network invest in?
- Capital Angel Network backs early-stage Canadian startups across technology, health, cleantech and food, from its base in Ottawa. Its members invest individually rather than from a single fund, and in water it has backed two early-stage water-treatment companies, Xatoms and Viridis Research.
- What stage does Capital Angel Network invest at?
- Capital Angel Network focuses on the earliest stages, pre-seed and seed. As an angel network its members write cheques individually and often syndicate alongside venture funds and other angel groups, so a startup's round is usually assembled from several backers rather than one.
- Who runs Capital Angel Network?
- Capital Angel Network was founded by Laurie Davis and is chaired by Jennifer Francis, with Suzanne Grant as Executive Director. It is run by a volunteer board of experienced Ottawa technology operators and investors, and its membership tops 55 angels, VCs, family offices and corporate members.
- Where is Capital Angel Network based?
- Capital Angel Network is based in Ottawa, in Canada's National Capital Region, and invests mainly across the innovation corridor that runs from Montreal to Waterloo. It also backs companies coast to coast across Canada, and was founded in the region in 2009.
- Is Capital Angel Network a water fund?
- No. Capital Angel Network is a generalist Canadian angel investor group, not a water-focused fund. Water is one slice of a broad portfolio that spans med-tech, clean energy, food and space; to date it has backed two water-treatment startups out of a much larger roster.