Helios Climate Ventures
Helios Climate Ventures is an Aspen, Colorado climate-tech venture capital firm that backs early-stage hardware across energy storage, batteries, and the energy transition. Founded in 2016, it is a climate generalist, not a water specialist: its water exposure is two companies, reverse-osmosis firm Aqua Membranes and lithium-extraction startup Summit Nanotech. As of June 2026 it has backed two water companies.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Helios Climate Ventures is an energy-storage fund first and a water investor second, and it does not pretend otherwise. Helios is a climate-tech generalist built around batteries and the grid, founded in Aspen, Colorado in 2016 to back the technically demanding hardware that most venture firms step around. Its team carries an unusually deep environmental pedigree for a money shop: a former chief executive of Patagonia's 1% for the Planet, two Yale-trained managing directors, and operators who have built and sold hardware companies at scale.
Helios Climate Ventures reaches water through two bets, and both sit where water meets the harder physics of the energy transition. Aqua Membranes and Summit Nanotech are the two names. Aqua Membranes is a drop-in upgrade for reverse osmosis, the workhorse process behind desalination and industrial water reuse, printing a 3D spacer onto the membrane to cut energy use and stretch its life; it already runs inside food, mining, and semiconductor plants. Summit Nanotech pulls high-purity lithium straight out of brine, the water-chemistry front door to the battery supply chain Helios cares about most. One cleans water, the other mines a battery metal out of it.
Helios Climate Ventures rates as Committed on the (don't) Waste Water scale, the honest read for a fund with real but narrow water exposure: two companies, no lead checks, the last water round back in 2024. The partner closest to this corner is Daniel Doimo, who ran Schneider Electric's water and wastewater business before he started writing climate cheques, which is why Helios tends to turn up as a co-investor next to water specialists like Burnt Island Ventures rather than leading a round itself. For a newcomer, the useful read is this: Helios is where water shows up as an engineering and materials problem inside a bigger energy-storage thesis, not as a standalone water fund.
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 Helios Climate Ventures invest in?
- Helios Climate Ventures invests in early-stage climate-tech hardware, with a specialty in energy storage: batteries, anodes, and grid storage. Founded in 2016, it backs technically demanding companies most generalist funds avoid. Its water exposure is two companies, reverse-osmosis firm Aqua Membranes and lithium-extraction startup Summit Nanotech.
- Does Helios Climate Ventures invest in water?
- Helios Climate Ventures is a climate-tech fund focused on energy storage, not a water specialist, but it holds two water-linked companies: Aqua Membranes, which upgrades reverse-osmosis purification, and Summit Nanotech, which extracts lithium from brine. (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Committed.
- Who runs Helios Climate Ventures?
- Helios Climate Ventures is run by partners Daniel Doimo, a former Schneider Electric and Cylance executive, and Josh Grehan, who helped scale and take Finch Therapeutics public, alongside managing directors Terry Kellogg, a former chief executive of Patagonia's 1% for the Planet, and Jesse Johnson. It was founded in 2016.
- Where is Helios Climate Ventures based?
- Helios Climate Ventures is based in Aspen, Colorado, where it was founded in 2016. The firm invests across the United States in early-stage climate and energy-storage hardware, and its small team of partners works from Colorado, California, and Vermont.
- Is Helios Climate Ventures part of Helios Investment Partners?
- Helios Climate Ventures is a small Aspen-based climate-tech venture firm and is not affiliated with Helios Investment Partners, the Africa-focused private equity manager, nor with other firms using the Helios name. Helios Climate Ventures was founded in 2016 and specializes in energy storage and climate hardware.