MFV Partners
MFV Partners is an early-stage deep-tech venture capital firm in Silicon Valley backing hardware founders in robotics, AI, energy, and agriculture. Its sole water bet is Irrigreen, a robotic sprinkler that cuts outdoor water use by roughly half. As of 2025, MFV has backed one water company across two rounds.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
MFV Partners is the deep-tech fund Karthee Madasamy launched in 2018, after eleven years backing frontier hardware at Qualcomm Ventures, where he wrote an early cheque into Waze. He built MFV to fund the robotics, AI, and embedded-systems startups he thinks will reshape heavy industries like automotive, manufacturing, and agriculture. Water sits at the edge of that mandate, one expression of a broader conviction that physical hardware, not software alone, is what bends climate curves.
MFV Partners' clearest water move is Irrigreen, whose robotic sprinkler maps a lawn and then prints water onto it precisely, the way an inkjet lays down ink, using roughly half the water of the spray-everywhere systems most homes run. Outdoor irrigation in the US burns through billions of gallons a day, more than showering and laundry combined, and Madasamy framed the bet with a line he borrowed from a hydrologist: if climate change is a shark, water is its teeth. MFV first backed Irrigreen at seed in 2023 and came back for its Series A in 2025.
For a newcomer sizing up MFV Partners as a water investor, the honest read is that water is occasional here, not a mandate: Irrigreen is the fund's one water company so far, across two rounds. MFV's energy is increasingly flowing into a wider deep-tech footprint, including Harper Court Ventures, a $25M fund it launched in May 2025 to commercialise University of Chicago research in quantum, energy, and life sciences. If MFV writes its next water cheque, expect it to look like Irrigreen: a hardware company attacking a physical resource problem.
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 · 1 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does MFV Partners invest in?
- MFV Partners invests in early-stage deep-tech startups building hardware and embedded systems, across robotics, AI, automotive, energy, and agriculture. It backs companies at seed and Series A. In water, MFV's portfolio is Irrigreen, a robotic-sprinkler company that cuts outdoor water use by about half.
- Who runs MFV Partners?
- MFV Partners is led by founder and Managing Partner Karthee Madasamy, who spent eleven years investing at Qualcomm Ventures before launching the fund in 2018. The investment team also includes Chairman and Partner Ashish Gupta, Partner Dr Ruchi Dana, and investor Aaron Pickard.
- Is MFV Partners a water investor?
- MFV Partners is a generalist deep-tech fund, not a water specialist. Water is occasional in its portfolio: its one water company is Irrigreen, backed across two rounds since 2023. (don't) Waste Water rates MFV Partners' water commitment Occasional.
- Where is MFV Partners based?
- MFV Partners is based in Los Altos, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley, and was founded in 2018. It recently extended into the Midwest through Harper Court Ventures, a University of Chicago focused fund it launched in May 2025.
- What water technology has MFV Partners backed?
- MFV Partners backed Irrigreen, whose robotic sprinkler digitally maps a lawn and applies water precisely, like an inkjet printer, using roughly 50% less water than conventional systems. MFV invested at Irrigreen's seed stage in 2023 and again at Series A in 2025.