Fifty Years
Fifty Years is a San Francisco seed fund that backs founders solving civilization-scale problems in climate, health, food and deep tech. Co-founded in 2016 by Seth Bannon and Ela Madej, it is a generalist impact investor, not a water specialist. In the Leviathan directory it holds one water-relevant company, Solugen, across two deals.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Fifty Years runs on an almost grandiose premise: back the founders who could measurably improve life on Earth over the next fifty years. Seth Bannon and Ela Madej, two Y Combinator alumni, started the firm in San Francisco in 2016 and built it around an unusual asset, a backing roster of roughly forty founders of billion-dollar companies who serve as the fund's expert network. The cheques are seed-stage; the ambition is civilizational.
Fifty Years is a generalist deep-tech and impact investor, not a water fund. Its portfolio runs through synthetic biology, energy, aerospace, healthcare and climate, names like Solugen, Astranis, Upside Foods and Opentrons. In the water category I track for (don't) Waste Water, it surfaces exactly once: Solugen, which uses engineered enzymes to make industrial chemicals from sugar instead of petroleum. That is one water-relevant company across two deals, the last in 2019, which is why Fifty Years rates a One-Off rather than a water investor.
For a newcomer mapping who funds water, Fifty Years is a useful edge case rather than a destination. It is a high-conviction generalist that wandered into water-adjacent chemistry through Solugen's sustainable-manufacturing thesis, then kept building its book across other frontiers. If you are tracking the funds that commit to water year after year, Fifty Years belongs on the wider deep-tech watch-list, not the core water roster.
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 · 1 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does Fifty Years invest in?
- Fifty Years is a seed-stage venture firm that backs founders solving civilization-scale problems. It invests across deep tech and impact sectors, including synthetic biology, energy, aerospace, healthcare, food and climate. It picks by founder conviction and mission rather than a single sector thesis, writing early cheques into ambitious technical companies.
- Is Fifty Years a water investor?
- No. Fifty Years is a generalist deep-tech and impact fund, not a water specialist. In the Leviathan water directory it holds one water-relevant company, Solugen, the sustainable-chemicals maker, across two deals, the last in 2019. That is why (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment One-Off rather than core.
- Who runs Fifty Years?
- Fifty Years was co-founded in 2016 by Seth Bannon and Ela Madej, both Y Combinator alumni and serial entrepreneurs who lead the firm as Founding Partners. They built it around a network of roughly forty founders of billion-dollar companies who back the fund and advise its portfolio.
- Where is Fifty Years based?
- Fifty Years is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and invests in founders globally. It backs companies at the pre-seed and seed stage, drawing on a San Francisco base and a wide network of operator-investors to support technical founders wherever they are building.