DC Thomson
DC Thomson is a 119-year-old Dundee family-owned media company, publisher of The Beano and The Courier, that invests occasionally and strategically through its corporate venturing arms. Its single water bet is Kando, an Israeli wastewater-intelligence company it backed in 2024. As of 2026, (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Occasional.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
DC Thomson is the Dundee dynasty behind The Beano, The Courier and The Sunday Post, a family-owned media house that has printed comics and newspapers since 1905. It is not, by any stretch, a water fund. Water shows up as a single, deliberate bet, made through the corporate investing arms the family runs alongside the presses.
DC Thomson's one water investment is Kando, an Israeli company that wires sensors and generative AI into sewer networks to catch industrial pollution and clean up the water that utilities send back to rivers and the sea. DC Thomson backed Kando in 2024, and its Investment Director, John S. Thomson, framed the cheque in plain public-good terms: helping improve water quality in the ocean, rivers and streams across the UK.
DC Thomson invests the way a patient family business does, in small numbers and for the long term. Its corporate venturing has leaned toward digital media, education and data businesses, which makes Kando stand out as a purpose-driven, sustainability bet rather than a core thesis. In the Leviathan database that comes to one water company across two deals.
DC Thomson reads, to a founder, as an occasional and strategic backer rather than a dedicated water investor: deep pockets and a century of patience, but a narrow water appetite anchored on a single conviction. The open question is whether Kando stays a one-off, or the first sign that a media dynasty has started taking water seriously.
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
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does DC Thomson invest in?
- DC Thomson invests mainly in digital media, publishing, education and data businesses through its corporate venturing arms, not in water as a category. Water appears once: in the Leviathan database its single water holding is Kando, an Israeli wastewater-intelligence company. (don't) Waste Water rates DC Thomson's water commitment Occasional.
- Is DC Thomson a water investor?
- Not primarily. DC Thomson is a Dundee family-owned media company that invests in water only occasionally and strategically. Its one water company in the Leviathan database is Kando, a wastewater-intelligence venture it backed in 2024 as a purpose-driven, sustainability bet rather than part of a dedicated water strategy.
- What is Kando, and why did DC Thomson back it?
- Kando is an Israeli company that uses sensors and generative AI to monitor sewer networks, flag industrial pollution and help utilities clean up wastewater. DC Thomson backed Kando in 2024; its Investment Director said the deal would help improve water quality in the ocean, rivers and streams across the UK.
- Who runs investing at DC Thomson?
- DC Thomson is a private, family-owned company whose directors descend from founder David Couper Thomson. Its investments run through in-house corporate venturing arms; Investment Director John S. Thomson, a chartered accountant, championed the Kando water deal and spoke for it publicly in 2024.
- Where is DC Thomson based?
- DC Thomson is based in Dundee, Scotland, where the family business has published newspapers and comics since 1905, and it also keeps a London office. Best known for The Beano, The Courier and The Sunday Post, the company runs its investing alongside its media operations from Dundee.