Plug and Play Ventures
Plug and Play Ventures is the venture arm of Plug and Play, a Silicon Valley accelerator and early-stage investor, not a water specialist. Founded in 2006, it backs pre-seed and seed startups across many industries, and reaches water through its Sustainability Fund, where water resilience is one of four themes. Leviathan tracks two of its water deals.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Plug and Play Ventures is not a water fund, and reading it as one would mislead you. It is the investing arm of Plug and Play, the Silicon Valley platform that has been running startups through its accelerator since 2006 and now spans more than 25 industries, from fintech to mobility to food. Water is one narrow seam in a very wide quarry, and the honest way to read this page is as a generalist that occasionally writes a water cheque, not a specialist that hunts them.
Plug and Play did build a deliberate door to water. In November 2024 it closed its first Sustainability Fund, a vehicle whose four stated themes are industrial decarbonization, the circular economy, energy transition, and water resilience. Water rides in under the climate banner, not on its own thesis, which tells you the kind of water company Plug and Play backs: hard, industrial, decarbonization-adjacent technology rather than utility billing software or municipal services.
Plug and Play's two water bets in the Leviathan database fit that pattern exactly. One is Solidec, a Houston team building modular electrochemical reactors that make industrial chemicals, including the hydrogen peroxide used to treat wastewater, from little more than air, water, and electricity. The other is Riverkin, an ETH Zurich spinout putting low-power smart sensors in rivers to build real-time freshwater data. Both are pre-seed deeptech with global reach, exactly what you would expect a generalist accelerator's sustainability arm to back.
Plug and Play is the fund a newcomer should file under accelerator-with-a-sustainability-wing, not water investor, and the distinction shapes what comes next. With a dedicated Sustainability Fund still deploying and water named as one of its pillars, more water deals are plausible. For now Plug and Play touches water as one expression of a broad climate bet, run at industrial scale, not a mission it leads with.
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 Plug and Play Ventures invest in?
- Plug and Play Ventures is the venture arm of Plug and Play, a Silicon Valley accelerator that backs pre-seed and seed startups across more than 25 industries. Its water exposure runs through a dedicated Sustainability Fund whose themes include water resilience, alongside decarbonization, the circular economy, and energy transition.
- Is Plug and Play a water-focused investor?
- No. Plug and Play is a generalist Silicon Valley accelerator and early-stage investor founded in 2006, not a water specialist. Water appears as one resilience theme inside its Sustainability Fund. The Leviathan database currently tracks two Plug and Play water deals, Solidec and Riverkin.
- What water companies has Plug and Play backed?
- Plug and Play has backed two water companies tracked by Leviathan. Solidec builds modular electrochemical reactors that make industrial chemicals from air, water, and electricity. Riverkin, an ETH Zurich spinout, deploys low-power smart sensors to generate real-time freshwater data for rivers and watersheds.
- Who runs Plug and Play's sustainability and water investing?
- Plug and Play's sustainability and water investing sits with Matthew Claxton, Partner and Global Director of Sustainability, who co-founded the firm's Sustainability vertical and its first Sustainability Fund. Saeed Amidi founded Plug and Play and leads it overall as chief executive.
- Where is Plug and Play based?
- Plug and Play is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley, and runs programs from more than 60 locations worldwide, including offices across the United States, Europe, and Asia. The platform was founded in 2006.