Richard Branson
Richard Branson is a British entrepreneur and angel investor who backs water-scarcity startups through the Virgin Group. His climate-driven water bets range from solar hydropanels that pull drinking water out of the air to software that scores corporate water risk. As of 2026, Leviathan counts two water companies he has backed.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Richard Branson is not a water investor in any specialist sense, and that is exactly what makes his two water bets worth a look. He is a generalist billionaire who backs a company when it sits where climate, scarcity and a good story meet, and water keeps qualifying.
Branson's two water names share one trait, which is water under climate stress. SOURCE Global builds solar hydropanels that make drinking water straight out of sunlight and air, a technology Branson has championed for vulnerable island communities through his Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator. Waterplan sits at the other end of the stack: software that scores the water risk buried in a company's supply chain for buyers like Coca-Cola and Diageo.
Branson's interest in water is older than these cheques. Back in 2012 he put the Virgin name on Virgin Pure, a home water purifier built to cut single-use plastic bottles, long before water risk was an investable category. When he does write a water cheque today he rarely writes it alone: his co-investors read like a climate-billionaire guest list, from Leonardo DiCaprio to Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.
Branson is, for a newcomer placing him on the water map, an occasional, opportunistic backer rather than a fund you can pitch. His name on a round signals that a water company has crossed from niche engineering into climate-headline territory. As of 2026 the Virgin orbit shows no sign of a dedicated water vehicle, so expect Branson to keep showing up the way he always has: selectively, loudly, and only when the story is big enough to match the brand.
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 water companies has Richard Branson invested in?
- Richard Branson has backed two water companies Leviathan tracks: SOURCE Global, which makes solar hydropanels that generate drinking water from sunlight and air, and Waterplan, a platform that measures and monitors corporate water risk for large industrial buyers. Both sit at the climate and scarcity edge of water.
- Does Richard Branson have a water fund?
- No. Richard Branson invests as an angel and through the Virgin Group and the Branson family, not through a dedicated water fund. His water investing is occasional and opportunistic, usually joining rounds alongside other climate-focused billionaires rather than running a structured water vehicle of his own.
- What stage does Richard Branson back in water?
- Richard Branson's water deals span early and growth stages, from a seed-stage water-risk software company to a growth-stage hardware company scaling hydropanels. He typically joins rounds as a backer rather than leading them, which is why Leviathan rates his water commitment Occasional.
- Who is Richard Branson?
- Richard Branson is the British founder of the Virgin Group, the brand behind Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Galactic and dozens of other businesses. On dww.show he appears as an angel investor in water technology, a small but visible slice of his broader climate and sustainability investing.