IRDI Capital Investissement
IRDI Capital Investissement is a regional private equity and venture capital firm based in Toulouse, France. It backs companies across the Grand Sud-Ouest from seed startups to mid-sized buyouts, with its water bets sitting inside its innovation arm. As of 2026, (don't) Waste Water tracks 2 water companies in its portfolio.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
IRDI Capital Investissement is one of the oldest investors (don't) Waste Water tracks, born in 1981 as a regional development institution charged with industrialising France's South-West, the arc of Occitanie and Nouvelle-Aquitaine that runs from Toulouse out to Bordeaux and Montpellier. Forty-odd years on it is still a regional fund, not a water fund, managing around 550 million euros across fourteen vehicles and writing cheques into local companies at every stage, from first seed to family-business buyout.
IRDI's water exposure comes through its innovation arm, the deeptech and life-sciences practice that backs young science companies out of Toulouse and Montpellier. The pattern across its two water bets is biology, not infrastructure: Greenphage, near Montpellier, grows bacteriophages, the natural viruses that hunt bacteria, to clean wastewater and industrial water and to slow the spread of antibiotic resistance through water; Toopi Organics, in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, collects human urine and turns it into agricultural biostimulants, a source-separation approach that keeps nutrients out of the wastewater stream entirely.
IRDI's water work has a public face, Marie-Sophie Redon, the investment director who runs innovation deals from Montpellier and announced the Greenphage round; the seed-stage deeptech pipeline behind her has been built by Jean-Michel Petit, who has financed science startups at IRDI since 2003. In its 2024-2025 financial year IRDI deployed 56.8 million euros into 38 regional companies, twenty of them innovative startups, a clip that tells you water is one small, deliberate line in a much larger regional book rather than a dedicated thesis.
For a newcomer, IRDI Capital Investissement is a useful reminder that some of the most patient water capital sits inside generalist regional funds, not only the water-only specialists. (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment at the Committed tier, the middle of the scale: real, recurring water cheques written opportunistically through an innovation mandate rather than a fund built for water alone.
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 IRDI Capital Investissement invest in?
- IRDI Capital Investissement invests in startups, SMEs and mid-sized companies across France's Grand Sud-Ouest, from seed funding to growth capital and buyouts. Its water exposure comes through its innovation arm, which backs deeptech and life-sciences companies. (don't) Waste Water tracks 2 of its water investments: Greenphage and Toopi Organics.
- Who runs IRDI Capital Investissement?
- IRDI Capital Investissement is led by Corinne d'Agrain, president of its management board, with board members including Bertrand Religieux, Karine François and Alexandre Scherer. Its water and innovation deals are run by investment director Marie-Sophie Redon in Montpellier and seed-capital director Jean-Michel Petit in Toulouse.
- Where is IRDI Capital Investissement based?
- IRDI Capital Investissement is headquartered in Toulouse, in the Occitanie region of south-west France, with offices in Montpellier and Bordeaux. Founded in 1981, it focuses on the Grand Sud-Ouest, the greater south-west spanning Occitanie and Nouvelle-Aquitaine, and manages around 550 million euros across its funds.
- How many water companies has IRDI Capital Investissement backed?
- IRDI Capital Investissement has backed 2 water companies tracked by (don't) Waste Water: Greenphage, which uses bacteriophages to treat wastewater and industrial water, and Toopi Organics, which recovers nutrients from human urine for agriculture. (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment at the Committed tier.
- Is IRDI Capital Investissement the same as IRDI SORIDEC Gestion?
- Largely yes. IRDI Capital Investissement is the current operating name of the Toulouse management company historically known as IRDI SORIDEC Gestion, which manages the IRDI funds. Its LinkedIn page still uses the older irdi-soridec-gestion handle. This profile covers that firm, not any similarly named entity.