Inven Capital
Inven Capital is the climate-tech venture arm of Czech energy utility ČEZ, backed alongside the European Investment Bank. It invests in decarbonization and clean-energy growth companies across Europe and Israel, and is an energy fund, not a water specialist: water turns up in just 2 of its bets. As of 2026 it deploys €500 million across two fund generations.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Inven Capital is what happens when a national power utility decides to fund the companies that might one day disrupt it. Czech energy group ČEZ set it up in 2014 and later brought in the European Investment Bank as a partner, handing it €500 million across two fund generations to back the technologies remaking how Europe makes, moves and stores energy. It is a climate-tech fund run from Prague, not a water specialist.
Inven Capital writes growth-stage cheques, the kind that go to companies with paying customers rather than lab-stage science projects, in tickets of roughly €2 to €30 million. Its map of the energy transition runs from clean power and hydrogen to electric buses, smart homes and industrial software, names like Sunfire, tado°, Ember and Forto. For a newcomer the pattern is the tell: this is a fund that backs the proven scale-up, not the first seed round.
Inven Capital reaches water almost sideways, and only where water carries an energy or infrastructure story. Two of its bets are tagged water, and only one still stands: WINT, whose AI sensors hunt leaks inside building plumbing, which Inven backed in 2023; and Cosmo Tech, a digital-twin simulation-software maker it backed and then exited in 2024. Neither is the pipes-and-treatment water company a (don't) Waste Water reader might picture.
Inven Capital is not the first call a pure-play water founder should make, and I would not pretend otherwise: its mandate is the energy transition, and water is a rounding error on its books. But the two deals mark the seam worth knowing. When a water technology is really an energy, buildings or data play wearing water's clothes, this is the kind of utility-backed investor that will write a real growth cheque.
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 Inven Capital invest in?
- Inven Capital invests in climate-tech and decarbonization, clean power and hydrogen, sustainable mobility, smart-home efficiency and industrial software, across Europe and Israel. It writes growth-stage cheques of roughly €2 to €30 million into companies with proven revenue. It is an energy and cleantech fund, and water appears in only 2 of its bets.
- Is Inven Capital a water fund?
- Inven Capital is not a water fund. It is the climate-tech venture arm of Czech utility ČEZ, and water reaches its portfolio only at the edges: WINT, an AI building-leak detector it backed in 2023, and Cosmo Tech, a digital-twin software maker it has since exited. (don't) Waste Water still rates its water commitment Committed.
- Who runs Inven Capital?
- Inven Capital is led by Petr Míkovec, its Managing Director and co-founder, who sets fund strategy and sources deals. Its investment team works out of Prague and includes Investment Directors Ivo Němejc, Petra Sokolová, Viktor Miškovský, Michal Mravec and Kristýna Machová.
- Is Inven Capital part of ČEZ?
- Inven Capital is the venture-capital fund of Czech energy utility ČEZ, co-funded by the European Investment Bank, with €500 million across two fund generations. It is a Prague-based climate-tech investor, not the unrelated Warsaw advisory firms that share the Inven name. It was founded in 2014.
- What water companies has Inven Capital backed?
- Inven Capital has backed two water-tagged companies, both where water meets buildings or infrastructure. WINT supplies AI sensors that detect leaks inside commercial plumbing, a 2023 investment. Cosmo Tech builds digital-twin simulation software for critical infrastructure, a holding Inven exited in 2024. Neither is a treatment or utility water business.