Gratitude Railroad
Gratitude Railroad is a community-driven impact investment firm based in Park City, Utah, that backs early-stage companies and emerging fund managers across planetary health and social well-being. Water is one slice of that mandate: as of 2026 it has backed 2 water companies, StormSensor and Wasted, across 2 deals since 2013.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Gratitude Railroad began in 2013 as a literal community. Howard Fischer, who had just wound down his convertible-bond hedge fund Basso Capital, and serial entrepreneur Eric Jacobsen met at Harvard's Advanced Leadership Initiative and built a club that moves wealthy individuals, family offices, and RIAs (registered investment advisors) into impact deals. Despite the name, there is no railway here: the railroad is a metaphor for moving capital toward the things that earned it.
Gratitude Railroad keeps water to a thin, deliberate slice of that mandate rather than the headline, and backs its two water companies the way it backs everything else, as climate and infrastructure plays. StormSensor wires cities with sensors to watch how water moves through storm, sewer, and coastal systems; Wasted is building a circular sanitation economy out of human waste. Both are early-stage, both sit at the messy intersection of utilities and the environment, and both came in alongside dedicated water funds like Burnt Island Ventures and Buoyant Ventures.
Gratitude Railroad is run today by two Co-CEOs: Thomas Knowles, who has structured the firm's deals since 2015, and Rebekah Saul Butler, who came from the Grove Foundation to lead its fund investing, while Fischer stays out front as chief evangelist. For a water founder the read is simple. This is impact-first generalist capital, not a water specialist, most useful when your company is as much a climate or sanitation story as a water one.
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 · 2 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does Gratitude Railroad invest in?
- Gratitude Railroad is an impact investment firm that backs early-stage companies and emerging fund managers across planetary health and social well-being. Water is one slice of that broad mandate. In water it has backed StormSensor and Wasted, both early-stage climate and infrastructure companies, since 2013.
- Who founded Gratitude Railroad and who runs it?
- Gratitude Railroad was founded in 2013 by Howard Fischer, a former hedge fund manager, and entrepreneur Eric Jacobsen, who met at Harvard's Advanced Leadership Initiative. It is run today by two Co-CEOs, Thomas Knowles and Rebekah Saul Butler, with Fischer serving as chief evangelist.
- Does Gratitude Railroad invest in water?
- Gratitude Railroad invests in water occasionally, not as a specialist. As of 2026 it has backed 2 water companies, StormSensor (urban stormwater sensing) and Wasted (circular sanitation), across 2 deals at Seed and Series A stage. Water sits inside its wider impact and climate mandate.
- Where is Gratitude Railroad based?
- Gratitude Railroad is headquartered in Park City, Utah, in the United States. It operates as a distributed community of impact investors rather than a single-office fund, drawing wealthy individuals, family offices, and registered investment advisors into shared impact deals.
- Is Gratitude Railroad a railroad company?
- Gratitude Railroad is not a railway or transport company. It is a community-driven impact investment firm founded in 2013. The name is a metaphor for moving private capital toward social and environmental impact, not a reference to trains or rail infrastructure.