K1W1
K1W1 is a New Zealand investment company founded by Sir Stephen Tindall in 1999. It backs early-stage Kiwi deeptech across biotech, clean energy, software, and water, with water bets running from industrial brine treatment to crop-water sensors. As of 2026 it has backed 2 water companies across 3 deals.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
K1W1 is the investment company Sir Stephen Tindall built after The Warehouse, the discount chain that made him one of New Zealand's best-known entrepreneurs. He started writing cheques in 1999 and has since put more than NZ$350 million to work over 25 years, into upward of 175 early-stage Kiwi companies, from rocket launchers to carbon-recycling microbes. Water is a thin slice of that book, but a revealing one.
When K1W1 does back water, it backs the hard, physical end of it. The two water names I can trace in my Leviathan database are Aquafortus, which concentrates industrial brine without boiling it, and Croptide, whose trunk-mounted sensors read how thirsty a plant actually is, two companies across three deals. One attacks the water a process has to get rid of; the other, the water a farm cannot afford to waste. Both are New Zealand deeptech, which is exactly where this fund looks first.
K1W1 reads less like a thesis-driven water VC and more like patient national capital: a generalist that follows a Kiwi founder into water when the science is genuinely novel, then sits quietly through the long slog from lab to market without needing to lead the round. For a newcomer that is the useful distinction. K1W1 is where you look for New Zealand water innovation backed early, not water run as a strategy.
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 K1W1 invest in?
- K1W1 invests in early-stage New Zealand companies across biotech, clean energy, software, and hardware, either directly or as a fund of funds. Its water investments are a small part of the book, spanning industrial water treatment and agricultural water-monitoring technology.
- Who is behind K1W1?
- K1W1 is the investment company of Sir Stephen Tindall, founder of New Zealand retailer The Warehouse. Robbie Tindall runs investments day to day, while Stephen Tindall and long-time director Brian Mayo-Smith sit on the investment committee.
- How many water companies has K1W1 backed?
- K1W1 has backed 2 water companies across 3 deals: Aquafortus, which concentrates industrial brine, and Croptide, which makes trunk-mounted sensors that read a plant's water stress. Both are New Zealand companies inside a much larger generalist technology portfolio.
- What stage does K1W1 invest at?
- K1W1 typically backs companies from pre-seed through Series A, the early end where New Zealand deeptech needs patient capital most. It usually co-invests alongside other Kiwi backers rather than leading rounds itself.
- Is K1W1 the same as the Tindall Foundation?
- No. K1W1 is Sir Stephen Tindall's for-profit investment company, while the Tindall Foundation is his separate philanthropic trust. Both stem from his Warehouse wealth, but K1W1 makes commercial early-stage investments rather than charitable grants.