Cimbria Capital
Cimbria Capital is a water-focused private equity firm that backs commercial-stage water companies across North America and the Nordics. Founded in 2015 by two Danish immigrants, it provides growth capital and hands-on operating help rather than chasing startups. As of 2026 it has backed 2 water companies, leading both rounds.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Cimbria Capital takes its name from the Cimbri, an ancient tribe from the Danish peninsula, and its logo from the Cimbrian Bull that still stands in bronze in Aalborg. The heritage is the point. Brian Iversen and Henrik Fogh Rasmussen, two Danes who emigrated to the United States, founded the firm in 2015 to put private-equity discipline to work in the Water Economy, the unglamorous business of moving, treating, and reusing water. Iversen had spent eight years investing energy and agriculture capital at Riverstone Holdings before deciding water was where the next gap sat.
Cimbria Capital is deliberately not a startup investor. It writes growth and expansion capital into companies it calls commercially adolescent, water businesses that already have revenue but lack the people and capital to scale. The targets sit across the water economy: decentralized treatment, desalination, leak detection and network monitoring, water reuse. Cimbria typically leads its rounds rather than following, and it splits its attention roughly four-to-one between North America and the Nordics.
What separates Cimbria Capital from a passive check-writer is the Acceleration Program, an in-house operating team that embeds with each company as a bolt-on management bench. You can see the thesis in the two companies I track: ParadigmShift, a Danish electrostatic water-treatment company, and Aganova, whose Nautilus probe swims through live water mains listening for leaks. Both are the kind of commercial-stage, transatlantic water bet the firm was built to make, and Cimbria led both rounds. Expect the next ones to rhyme: Nordic or North American, already selling, and in need of a hands-on owner.
Team · 3 profiled
On the show
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 Cimbria Capital invest in?
- Cimbria Capital invests growth and expansion capital in commercial-stage water companies across North America and the Nordics. Its focus is the Water Economy: utilities, water infrastructure, and the equipment, technology, and services used to supply, treat, and reuse water. It has backed 2 water companies so far, leading both rounds.
- What stage and check size does Cimbria Capital invest at?
- Cimbria Capital is a private equity firm, not a startup investor. It backs companies it calls commercially adolescent, already generating revenue but needing capital and operating help to scale. It provides growth and expansion capital and typically leads its rounds; specific check sizes are not publicly disclosed.
- Who runs Cimbria Capital?
- Cimbria Capital was founded in 2015 by Brian Iversen and Henrik Fogh Rasmussen, two Danish immigrants to the United States. Iversen, a former Riverstone Holdings vice president, serves as Managing Partner and leads the firm, supported by an operating team that works hands-on with portfolio companies.
- Where is Cimbria Capital based?
- Cimbria Capital is based in Houston, Texas, in the United States, with roots in Denmark reflecting its two Danish founders. The firm invests on both sides of the Atlantic, splitting its attention roughly 80% across the United States and Canada and 20% across the Nordics.
- Is Cimbria Capital the same as Cimbria the seed company?
- No. Cimbria Capital is a water-focused private equity firm founded in 2015 by Brian Iversen. It is unrelated to Cimbria A/S, the Danish agricultural seed and grain handling manufacturer. Both names trace to the ancient Cimbri tribe, but this profile covers the water investment firm.