E8 Angels (E8 Fund)
E8 Angels is a Seattle-based nonprofit angel network that invests exclusively in early-stage cleantech and climate companies. Its 140-plus accredited members have put more than $75M into 190-plus startups since 2006, and a small slice of that is water. As of 2026 it has backed 4 water companies.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
E8 Angels started in 2006 as the Northwest Energy Angels, the first angel group in the United States built to fund nothing but clean technology. It renamed itself Element 8 in 2014, after oxygen, the eighth element, the spark its founders wanted to be for a cleaner economy, and trades today simply as E8. Twenty years in, it is still a Seattle institution rather than a fund chasing the next coast.
E8 Angels works as an angel network, a different animal from a venture fund: rather than one partnership writing cheques from a pooled fund, it is a nonprofit membership community of more than 140 accredited investors, individuals wealthy enough to back startups directly, who run shared due diligence together and then each decide for themselves what to put in. That model has channelled over $75M into 190-plus cleantech companies since 2006, spanning renewable energy, storage, the built environment, agtech and, here and there, water. E8 also runs an affiliated venture fund, E8 Ventures, led by co-founder and managing director Lars Johansson.
Water shows up in E8's book the way most categories do, as a handful of early bets inside a wide cleantech net rather than a standing thesis. E8 has backed four water companies, and the pattern is hardware and sensors over software: Aquagga, which destroys PFAS forever chemicals with hydrothermal alkaline treatment; Membrion, building ceramic ion-exchange membranes for hard industrial water; Apana, a flow-sensing platform for commercial water management; and StormSensor, which wires up storm and wastewater networks. It is why (don't) Waste Water rates E8's water commitment Committed rather than core.
For a founder building in water, E8 is worth knowing for what it actually is: a Pacific-Northwest cleantech angel network that will occasionally write an early cheque and pull a diligence-minded crowd in behind it, not a water specialist you pitch for deep sector conviction. Its edge is the network, not the niche, so the water companies it backs tend to be regional, hardware-heavy and caught early, before the bigger water funds arrive.
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 · 4 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does E8 Angels invest in?
- E8 Angels invests only in early-stage cleantech and climate companies, across renewable energy, energy storage, the built environment, transportation and agtech. Its members have backed more than 190 startups since 2006. Water is a small part of that book, with four water companies funded so far, so E8 is a cleantech generalist rather than a water specialist.
- Does E8 Angels invest in water?
- E8 Angels does invest in water, but selectively. It has backed four water companies, leaning toward hardware: Aquagga in PFAS destruction, Membrion in ceramic membranes, Apana in water-management sensors, and StormSensor in stormwater monitoring. (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Committed, reflecting occasional water bets inside a far wider cleantech portfolio.
- Who runs E8 Angels?
- E8 Angels is led by Executive Director Karin Kidder, who runs the nonprofit, alongside Director of Pipeline and Portfolio Allison Arnold, who manages deal flow. Its affiliated venture fund, E8 Ventures, is run by co-founder and managing director Lars Johansson, a board member and active investor with E8 since its 2006 founding.
- Where is E8 Angels based?
- E8 Angels is based in Seattle, Washington, in the United States, where it has operated since 2006. Although it began as a Pacific Northwest group, its membership of accredited cleantech investors now spans the United States and Canada, and it invests in early-stage companies across North America rather than one region.
- Is E8 Angels the same as Element 8?
- Yes. E8 Angels, Element 8 and the original Northwest Energy Angels are the same Seattle cleantech investing community, which adopted the Element 8 name in 2014 and now goes by E8. Its affiliated venture fund is called E8 Ventures, sometimes referred to as the E8 Fund. It is unrelated to similarly named recruitment or software firms.