Marubeni Corporation
Marubeni Corporation is a Japanese trading conglomerate and one of the world's largest private developers of desalination and water infrastructure. Through its corporate venture arm it has also backed 2 water-technology companies, from Danish sludge-to-biochar to US oilfield water data. As of November 2025 it part-listed its Philippine water utility Maynilad in Asia's first green IPO.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Marubeni Corporation is not a venture fund at all but a sogo shosha, the distinctly Japanese species of general trading company, founded in 1858 and now spanning food, metals, energy and machinery with more than 50,000 staff. Water sits inside its Power and Infrastructure Services division, where Marubeni has spent decades building and running the kind of heavy assets most investors never touch: seawater desalination plants that together produce close to 490 million gallons of drinking water a day across the Middle East.
Marubeni's water is mostly infrastructure, not software. Marubeni owns stakes in independent water projects in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, including the Taweelah and Shuqaiq plants, is building a desalination line to supply Chile's state copper miner, and has held a piece of Maynilad, the utility serving 10.5 million people in western Manila, since 2013. This is the patient, build-own-operate end of water, where returns come from long-term water purchase agreements rather than a quick exit.
Marubeni shows up on the venture side too, where the Leviathan database tracks 2 water-technology companies. In 2024 Marubeni invested in AquaGreen, a Danish firm whose reactors dry and pyrolyse sewage sludge into biochar while stripping out PFAS and microplastics, and in 2019 it backed Sourcewater, a Houston startup that maps oilfield water using satellite imagery and AI. Both are strategic bets that feed Marubeni's existing water and energy businesses rather than purely financial plays.
As of November 2025, Marubeni floated about 30 percent of Maynilad in the second-largest IPO in Philippine history, billed as Asia's first green listing, partly recovering an investment it had held for over a decade. For a founder, that is the tell. Marubeni is a strategic corporate investor that backs water companies it can plug into its plants, utilities and trading network, and is comfortable holding for years before recycling the capital back into the next project.
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 Marubeni Corporation invest in?
- Marubeni Corporation invests across food, metals, energy, machinery and infrastructure as one of Japan's largest trading companies. In water, Marubeni develops and operates desalination plants and utilities, and its corporate venture arm has separately backed 2 water-technology companies, AquaGreen and Sourcewater. (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Committed.
- Does Marubeni invest in water?
- Marubeni Corporation is deeply involved in water, mainly as an infrastructure developer. Marubeni owns stakes in independent water and desalination projects across the Middle East, Chile and the Philippines, producing close to 490 million gallons a day, and has separately backed 2 early-stage water-technology companies through its corporate venture arm.
- Who runs Marubeni's water business?
- Marubeni Corporation runs its water activities through its Power and Infrastructure Services division, which builds and operates desalination plants and utilities worldwide. Direct water-technology investments are handled by Marubeni's strategic-investment and business-development teams inside that division, rather than by a standalone water fund with named general partners.
- Where is Marubeni Corporation based?
- Marubeni Corporation is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, and trades on the Tokyo Stock Exchange under code 8002. Founded in 1858, Marubeni runs more than 130 offices worldwide and operates water and power assets across the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Europe and South America.
- Is Marubeni Corporation a venture capital fund?
- No. Marubeni Corporation, founded in 1858, is a Japanese sogo shosha, or general trading company, not a dedicated venture fund. Marubeni makes water investments strategically, to strengthen its own infrastructure and trading businesses, which is why (don't) Waste Water classifies it as corporate venture capital rather than a pure-play water fund.