Lowercarbon Capital
Lowercarbon Capital is a climate-focused venture capital firm founded by Chris and Crystal Sacca that backs startups cutting carbon emissions. Water runs through its climate thesis: as of 2026 it has backed 5 water companies across 8 deals, from lithium extraction out of brine to flood-risk data and rain-making technology.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Lowercarbon Capital is not a water fund, and that is the first thing worth knowing about it. Chris and Crystal Sacca, the duo behind the early-stage fund Lowercase Capital, built it as an everything-climate fund, the kind that will write a seed check for a fusion reactor in the morning and an irrigation-sensor startup in the afternoon. Water shows up here not as a mandate but as a consequence of chasing carbon: the problems that warm the planet and the problems that move water keep turning out to be the same problem.
Lowercarbon's water companies cluster around three threads. The first is lithium, where Lilac Solutions and Lithios both pull the metal straight out of salty brine instead of evaporating it across desert ponds, a process that lives or dies on water chemistry. The second is climate adaptation: Floodbase turns satellite imagery into flood maps for insurers, and Rainmaker is trying to coax more rain out of the clouds. The third is the unglamorous middle of agriculture, where CODA Farm Technologies retrofits old irrigation pivots so growers waste less water. The connective tissue is water treated as climate infrastructure, not water for its own sake.
Lowercarbon writes the first check and, in its own words, keeps investing 'deep into the alphabet' as a company grows, which is why it shows up as a lead investor in most of the water rounds I track in my Leviathan database. As of 2026 that adds up to 5 water companies across 8 deals, from Seed to Series C. For a newcomer the useful frame is this: Lowercarbon backs water the way a giant generalist does, picking the handful of water bets that also happen to be big carbon bets.
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 · 5 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does Lowercarbon Capital invest in?
- Lowercarbon Capital invests in climate startups that cut carbon emissions, from nuclear fusion and carbon removal to water. Its water portfolio centers on lithium extraction from brine, flood-risk data, precipitation technology, and irrigation efficiency, backing companies it believes can grow while reducing global warming.
- Is Lowercarbon Capital a water fund?
- Lowercarbon Capital is not a dedicated water fund. It is a broad climate venture firm where water is one thread among many. Lowercarbon has backed 5 water companies across 8 deals, but most of its capital goes to energy, fusion, and carbon-removal startups rather than pure water plays.
- Who runs Lowercarbon Capital?
- Lowercarbon Capital was founded in 2018 by Chris Sacca and Crystal Sacca, the pair behind the early-stage fund Lowercase Capital. Chris Sacca is managing partner; the investing team includes general partners Clay Dumas and Caie Kelley and partners Shawn Xu and Ryan Orbuch.
- What water companies has Lowercarbon Capital backed?
- Lowercarbon Capital has backed Lilac Solutions and Lithios in lithium-from-brine extraction, Floodbase in satellite flood mapping, Rainmaker Technology in precipitation enhancement, and CODA Farm Technologies in irrigation efficiency. As of 2026 that totals 5 water companies across 8 funding deals.
- Where is Lowercarbon Capital based?
- Lowercarbon Capital is based in New York, with partners working across the United States. Founded in 2018 by Chris and Crystal Sacca, it runs several climate funds and counts water technology among the sectors it backs, from Seed through Series C.