Clay Capital
Clay Capital is an agrifood-tech venture fund in Singapore and London, rebranded from VisVires New Protein. It backs startups remaking the global food system, and its bets repeatedly touch water at the food-nutrient nexus, from urine recycling to microalgae. As of 2026, (don't) Waste Water tracks 3 water companies across 3 deals and rates its water commitment Committed.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Clay Capital is an agrifood-tech fund that keeps ending up in water. A Singapore and London investor rebranded from VisVires New Protein in 2023, it closed a $145 million second fund the same year on a blunt conviction: food is both a major cause of environmental and health damage and one of the best places to fix it.
Clay Capital keeps surfacing in water because it invests at the food-nutrient nexus, where the food system and the water cycle are really one system. Its three water bets read like a closed loop: Toopi Organics turns human urine into agricultural biostimulants, MiAlgae grows omega-3 microalgae on whisky-distillery co-products, and Mitte builds a countertop unit that distils and remineralises drinking water. In each case the water win rides along with a food or agriculture fix, not a utility build-out.
Clay Capital writes early to growth-stage cheques across Europe, Israel, and Asia, using its Singapore to London axis as a bridge between the two regions' food-tech ecosystems. For a newcomer to the space, the practical read is that co-founders Matthieu Vermersch and Marie-Anne Dupin built the firm for the agrifood transition, and water is simply where that transition gets unavoidably physical. Worth watching is how far into the food-water overlap the next fund leans.
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 · 3 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does Clay Capital invest in?
- Clay Capital invests in agrifood and food-tech startups that reconnect human health with planetary health, spanning alternative proteins, fermentation, soil, crop biologicals, and aquaculture. Within that thesis it backs water-adjacent companies working on nutrient recovery, microalgae, and clean drinking water across Europe, Israel, and Asia.
- Who runs Clay Capital?
- Clay Capital was co-founded by Matthieu Vermersch and Marie-Anne Dupin and runs from Singapore and London. Its investment team includes partners Gerard Chia and Ali Morrow, who leads early-stage agrifood investing in Europe, plus principal Darren Leong, who has been with the firm since its VisVires New Protein days.
- Is Clay Capital the same as VisVires New Protein?
- Yes. Clay Capital is the rebranded name of VisVires New Protein, the Singapore agrifood venture firm, which adopted the new identity in 2023 alongside the close of its $145 million second fund. It is a separate firm from similarly named groups such as Clay Cove Capital.
- How many water deals has Clay Capital done?
- Clay Capital is an agrifood fund rather than a dedicated water investor, but (don't) Waste Water tracks 3 of its portfolio companies as water companies across 3 deals, namely Toopi Organics, MiAlgae, and Mitte. That record earns it a Committed water-commitment rating as of 2026.
- Where is Clay Capital based?
- Clay Capital is headquartered in Singapore with a second office in London, a deliberate axis the firm uses to bridge Asian and European food-tech ecosystems. From those two bases it invests across Europe, Israel, and Asia and helps its startups expand between the regions.