Hostplus
Hostplus is one of Australia's largest industry superannuation funds, a not-for-profit retirement fund for hospitality and tourism workers that is also the country's biggest backer of venture capital. Its water bets are spillovers from that deep-tech program, not a dedicated water fund. As of 2026 Hostplus has backed 2 water companies across 3 deals, rated Committed by (don't) Waste Water.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Hostplus is the A$150 billion retirement fund for Australia's hospitality, tourism, sport, and recreation workers, and it is also, improbably, the most active venture capital investor in the country. Under chief investment officer Sam Sicilia, who arrived in 2008, the fund has poured more than a billion dollars into venture in a single recent year and bankrolled most of the names in Australian deep tech. Water is not a thesis at Hostplus; it is what occasionally washes up out of that venture program.
Hostplus puts that money to work through venture firms and direct co-investments rather than hunting water deals itself. It is a long-standing backer of the IP Group Hostplus Innovation Fund, a deep-tech vehicle it has now committed roughly A$435 million to, and it co-invests alongside specialists like CSIRO's Main Sequence. The water companies on its books arrived as deep-tech bets first and water plays second.
Hostplus' two water holdings show exactly that pattern. Gradiant builds industrial water-reuse and desalination systems, and in 2026 Hostplus joined the company's growth round as it scaled to slake the thirst of AI data centres and semiconductor fabs. ElectraLith, a Monash University spinout reached through the IP Group fund, pulls lithium through a membrane with no water and no acid, the rare 'water' company whose entire pitch is using less of it. Both are heavy-engineering, capital-hungry businesses of exactly the kind a hundred-billion-dollar fund can hold patiently for a decade.
Hostplus' water footprint is small and incidental, 2 companies across 3 deals, and it earns its Committed rating on the (don't) Waste Water scale largely on the strength of those two. But it is a useful tell about where institutional water money is quietly forming: not in a water fund, but in a pension fund big enough to write the venture cheques most of the sector never sees.
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 Hostplus invest in?
- Hostplus is a diversified superannuation fund that invests members' retirement savings across shares, property, infrastructure, private equity, and venture capital. It is best known as Australia's largest superannuation backer of venture capital, funding deep-tech and climate startups through firms such as IP Group, Blackbird, and CSIRO's Main Sequence.
- Does Hostplus invest in water?
- Yes, but indirectly. Hostplus has backed 2 water companies across 3 deals: Gradiant, an industrial water-reuse and desalination firm, and ElectraLith, a low-water lithium-extraction spinout. Both arrived through its deep-tech venture program rather than a dedicated water strategy. (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Committed.
- Who runs Hostplus?
- Hostplus is led by chief executive David Elia, who has run the fund since 2003, and chief investment officer Sam Sicilia, who has shaped its strategy since 2008 and is widely credited with making it Australia's biggest venture capital investor. Greg Clerk and Susan Orr serve as co-deputy CIOs.
- How big is Hostplus?
- Hostplus is one of Australia's largest industry super funds, managing over A$150 billion for more than 1.9 million members as of 2026. It serves workers in hospitality, tourism, sport, and recreation, and is a not-for-profit fund, so its earnings flow back to members rather than external shareholders.
- Is Hostplus a water fund or a venture capital firm?
- Neither, strictly. Hostplus is an Australian retirement (superannuation) fund, not a specialist water investor or a standalone VC firm. It appears in the (don't) Waste Water directory because its large venture program has financed a handful of water and water-adjacent technology companies inside a broader deep-tech portfolio.