Future of Water Fund
Future of Water Fund is a Denver-based venture fund backing early-stage water technology in the American West. Also known as the Colorado River Basin Fund, it was co-founded in 2021 by water strategist Will Sarni and fund manager Paul Tencher to invest in digital and advanced-materials water solutions. As of 2026, Leviathan records one portfolio company, Hydraloop.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Future of Water Fund is the rare investor defined by a place rather than a sector. Where most funds pick a technology and look everywhere, this one picked a watershed, the Colorado River Basin that much of the American West depends on, and went looking for anything that could ease its water stress. It is a fund built around a river, not a category, which is the first thing worth knowing about it.
Future of Water Fund was co-founded in 2021 by an unlikely pair. Paul Tencher spent seventeen years in politics, running a U.S. senator's office, before an MBA pointed him toward venture capital; Will Sarni had spent a career as a water-strategy advisor, telling companies how exposed they were to water risk. Tencher's line that water is a dinosaur industry untouched by digital technology is the whole thesis in a sentence. The fund is explicit that it does not buy or sell water rights; it backs the software and materials that help people use less of it.
Future of Water Fund concentrates on what it calls exponential technologies, digital tools and advanced materials, aimed at water scarcity, quality, and access. Its first and best-known investment was Hydraloop, the Dutch maker of a home greywater recycler that lets a household use the same water twice. In the Leviathan database that remains its one tracked portfolio company across two recorded deals, which makes it a focused debut rather than a busy book. For a newcomer, I read the fund less as a deal machine than as a clear template: pick the water problem you care about, then fund the technology that bends it.
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.
Portfolio · 1 water companies
Frequently asked
- What does the Future of Water Fund invest in?
- Future of Water Fund invests in early-stage water technology, specifically the digital tools and advanced materials that address water scarcity, quality, and access across the Colorado River Basin and the wider American West. The fund avoids buying or selling water rights, backing instead the companies that help users consume less water.
- Who runs the Future of Water Fund?
- Future of Water Fund was co-founded in 2021 by Will Sarni, a longtime water-strategy advisor and founder of the consultancy Water Foundry, and Paul Tencher, a former U.S. Senate chief of staff who moved into venture capital. Tencher serves as managing director and fund manager, with Sarni as the water subject-matter expert.
- Where is the Future of Water Fund based?
- Future of Water Fund is based in Denver, Colorado, in the heart of the Colorado River Basin it was built to serve. The location is deliberate: this is a place-based fund focused on the American West, the region the U.S. government counts among its most water-stressed.
- What has the Future of Water Fund invested in?
- Future of Water Fund is best known for its 2022 investment in Hydraloop, a Dutch company whose system recycles household greywater so a home can reuse the same water. In the Leviathan database the fund records one portfolio company across two tracked deals, marking it as a focused, early-stage water investor.
- Is the Future of Water Fund the same as the Colorado River Basin Fund?
- Yes. Future of Water Fund and the Colorado River Basin Fund are two names for the same Denver-based venture fund, co-founded by Will Sarni and Paul Tencher in 2021. Its LinkedIn page and branding carry both names, reflecting a mission to invest in water technology across the Colorado River Basin.