Crowdcube
Crowdcube is an equity crowdfunding platform, not a water fund. Founded in Exeter in 2011 as the world's first of its kind, it lets a crowd of everyday investors buy shares in private companies. Its water exposure is thin but real: as of 2026, six water companies have raised on the platform across nine rounds.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Crowdcube is not an investor in the usual sense. It is an equity crowdfunding platform, a marketplace where a crowd of everyday people, not a fund manager, decides which private companies get money. Darren Westlake and Luke Lang launched it from Exeter in 2011 as the world's first equity crowdfunding platform, on a simple idea: let anyone buy a slice of a startup for the price of a nice dinner. More than two million people have since registered to invest through it.
Crowdcube has spent the years since turning that crowd into real infrastructure. As of 2026 it is one of the first platforms the UK regulator has authorised as a Public Offer Platform, a new status that lets private companies raise from the public without the old multi-million-pound cap, paired with a London Stock Exchange partnership for trading private shares. For a newcomer the signal is that Crowdcube is becoming a full private-markets venue, not just a pitch site.
Crowdcube's water story is a thin thread inside a generalist platform, and it pays to read it correctly. Six water companies have run raises here, among them Hydraloop, which makes home greywater recyclers, Salinity Solutions and its compact reverse-osmosis units, Mapal's fine-bubble aeration, and the test-kit maker Bluephage. The money behind those rounds came from the crowd and from named funds investing alongside it, such as the Future of Water Fund and Amavi Capital, not from a Crowdcube balance sheet.
Crowdcube is the kind of door a water founder reaches when the pitch is consumer-friendly enough to sell to a crowd, a Hydraloop in the home rather than a pipe buried under a treatment works. Across six water companies and nine funding rounds, the pattern is hardware that ordinary people can picture and want in their own lives. It is a route to retail capital and early validation, not a thesis-driven water investor, and that distinction is the most useful thing for a newcomer to hold onto.
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 · 6 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- Is Crowdcube a water fund?
- No. Crowdcube is an equity crowdfunding platform, not a water fund or a venture firm. It is a marketplace where a crowd of retail investors buys shares in private companies across every sector. Water is one small thread: six water companies have raised on the platform, most recently in 2024.
- What does Crowdcube invest in?
- Crowdcube does not invest its own money; it hosts fundraising campaigns that its members back directly. The platform is generalist, spanning fintech, consumer, food and climate, with names like Monzo and BrewDog. Within that, six water companies have raised capital from its crowd across nine rounds since 2021.
- Which water companies have raised on Crowdcube?
- Crowdcube has hosted raises for six water companies. They include Hydraloop, which recycles household greywater; Salinity Solutions, a compact reverse-osmosis startup; Mapal Aeration Solutions; ALVATECH; the water-testing firm Bluephage; and WET Global. Co-investors alongside the crowd have included the Future of Water Fund and Amavi Capital.
- Who runs Crowdcube?
- Crowdcube is led by Co-CEOs Matt Cooper and Bill Simmons, both of whom joined in 2014 and took the top job in January 2023. Co-founder Darren Westlake, who launched the platform with Luke Lang in 2011, stepped back from day-to-day leadership but remains a major shareholder.
- Where is Crowdcube based?
- Crowdcube is based in London, with an office in Exeter, where Darren Westlake and Luke Lang founded it in 2011. It operates across the UK and Europe. As of 2026 it is one of the first platforms the FCA has authorised as a Public Offer Platform under new UK rules.