Evok Innovations
Evok Innovations is a Vancouver climate-tech venture firm backing hard technology for heavy industry, from energy to mining and minerals. Its water work sits in industrial reuse, filtration membranes and lithium-brine treatment. As of 2026, Evok has backed 3 water companies across 4 deals, and (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Committed.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Evok Innovations is one of the odder names in my water database, because the money behind it started in the oil sands. When the fund launched in Vancouver in 2016, the cheques came from Cenovus and Suncor, two of Canada's largest oil and gas producers, who each committed up to $50 million to a $100 million cleantech fund built to scale cleaner technology for heavy industry, water treatment very much included.
Evok has grown up since. Its $300 million Fund II, which announced a first close in 2022, widened the mandate from energy into mining, critical minerals and industrial efficiency, the messy industrial corners where water is a production input rather than an afterthought. That is where Evok's water thesis lives, not as a pure-play water fund (one that backs water and nothing else), but as an industrial investor whose deals keep running into water.
Evok's three water names tell that story. The fund has backed Summit Nanotech, which pulls lithium straight out of brine, ZwitterCo, whose nanofiltration membranes are sieves fine enough to clean streams that used to be written off as too dirty, and Allonnia, which uses biology to break down contaminants. Across those three companies and four deals, Evok led most of the rounds it joined, which for a fund this size means it is setting terms, not just writing a cheque.
Evok is worth watching, for me, for exactly that industrial angle. The fund sits close to the heavy emitters who consume the most water, the miners, the energy producers, the chemical plants, and it has the strategic backers to open those doors. For someone new to water investing, Evok is a useful reminder that some of the most interesting water bets are not labelled water at all, they sit buried inside an industrial decarbonization portfolio.
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 Evok Innovations invest in?
- Evok Innovations invests in hard technology for heavy industry, across energy, mining and minerals, industrial efficiency, and climate resilience. Its water-relevant work covers industrial water reuse, filtration membranes and lithium-brine treatment. (don't) Waste Water counts 3 water companies across 4 deals, enough to rate Evok a Committed water investor.
- Is Evok Innovations a water-only fund?
- Evok Innovations is not a water-only fund. Evok is a climate-tech venture firm backing heavy industry, and water is one slice of a portfolio that also spans energy, mining and industrial efficiency. Its water exposure shows up where industry meets water: reuse, membranes and brine treatment.
- Who runs Evok Innovations?
- Evok Innovations is led by partners Marty Reed, who co-founded the firm in 2016, alongside Mike Biddle, Jane Kearns and Naynika Chaubey, with principals including Erin Madro and Don Duval. The team works mostly from Vancouver, with members across Calgary, Toronto, Seattle and Silicon Valley.
- Where is Evok Innovations based?
- Evok Innovations is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, with team members across Calgary, Toronto, Seattle and Silicon Valley. The firm launched in 2016 as a Vancouver-based cleantech fund seeded by Canadian energy producers Cenovus and Suncor, and it still runs its investing out of British Columbia.
- What water companies has Evok Innovations backed?
- Evok Innovations has backed three water-relevant companies that (don't) Waste Water tracks: Summit Nanotech, which extracts lithium from brine; ZwitterCo, which makes nanofiltration membranes; and Allonnia, which uses biology to break down water contaminants. Evok led most of those rounds rather than simply following.