Material Impact
Material Impact is a Boston-based venture capital firm that backs startups built on materials-science and deep-tech breakthroughs. Water is one slice of that thesis: (don't) Waste Water tracks 2 water companies across 4 deals, each turning an advanced material into clean water. As of 2026, it rates Material Impact's water commitment Occasional.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Material Impact is a deep-tech venture firm in the truest sense: two materials scientists, Carmichael Roberts and Adam Sharkawy, started it in Boston in 2016 to commercialise the kind of advanced-materials research that usually dies in a university lab. The whole firm rests on one bet, that a breakthrough in materials science can reshape an entire industry. Roberts also runs investing at Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Bill Gates's climate fund, which tells you where his head is.
Material Impact is not a water fund, and a newcomer should not mistake it for one. Water shows up because water is, at bottom, a materials problem, so the two water bets that land on my Leviathan radar both solve it with a clever material rather than a bigger pipe. Infinite Cooling, an MIT spinout in its portfolio, captures the water that normally drifts off as vapour from power-plant and data-centre cooling towers; SOURCE Global builds solar hydropanels that pull drinking water straight out of the air. Two companies, four funding rounds, the most recent in 2022.
Material Impact now manages roughly $700 million, and in 2023 it closed an oversubscribed $352 million third fund, with water folded into a 'Food and Water' theme that sits beside manufacturing, healthcare and robotics. That breadth is the honest read on its water exposure: deliberate and science-led, but occasional rather than core. When Material Impact does back a water company it tends to lead the round, which is why (don't) Waste Water records it leading roughly half the rounds it joins.
Material Impact is, in the end, a materials-science investor that reaches for water when the chemistry is the point, not a water specialist chasing every drop. For a founder the read is simple: if your water idea begins with a new membrane, a new coating, or a new way to move a molecule, this is a room where the partners can actually follow the science. That technical depth, not deal volume, is what Material Impact brings to water.
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 Material Impact invest in?
- Material Impact backs early-stage startups whose products are built on a materials-science or deep-tech breakthrough, across themes it labels food and water, sustainable manufacturing, healthcare, robotics and data. Its water bets, such as Infinite Cooling and SOURCE Global, sit inside that wider deep-tech thesis rather than a standalone water fund.
- Is Material Impact a water fund?
- Material Impact is not a water fund. It is a materials-science and deep-tech venture firm whose water exposure comes through advanced materials, from atmospheric water generation to cooling-tower water capture. (don't) Waste Water tracks 2 water companies across 4 deals, earning Material Impact an Occasional water-commitment rating rather than a core one.
- Who runs Material Impact?
- Material Impact was co-founded in 2016 by Carmichael Roberts and Adam Sharkawy, both materials scientists who serve as managing partners. Roberts also leads investing at Breakthrough Energy Ventures. The investment team includes partners Corinna Chen and Christian Theriault, backed by operating and company-building specialists.
- Where is Material Impact based?
- Material Impact is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States, where its team works alongside the city's dense cluster of university research labs and deep-tech startups. That proximity to academic materials science is central to how the firm sources and builds the companies it backs.
- How many water deals has Material Impact done?
- Material Impact has backed 2 water companies across 4 deals, according to (don't) Waste Water's Leviathan database, with its most recent water investment in 2022. Both bets, Infinite Cooling and SOURCE Global, turn an advanced material into clean water, earning Material Impact an Occasional water-commitment rating.