The Yield Lab
The Yield Lab is a global early-stage agrifoodtech venture firm running ten funds across four continents. Founded in St. Louis in 2014, its water exposure sits where farming meets water: irrigation, soil moisture, crop sensing and aquaculture. As of 2026 The Yield Lab has backed 5 water companies across 6 deals, rated Committed by (don't) Waste Water.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
The Yield Lab is not a water fund, and it is worth saying that plainly. The Yield Lab is an agrifoodtech investor, born in St. Louis in 2014 when Thad Simons, who had just spent more than a decade running the animal-nutrition giant Novus International, decided early-stage farm and food technology needed patient money it could not otherwise find. A decade on, The Yield Lab has grown into a federation of ten funds across four continents, North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific, and in September 2025 it passed the milestone of 100 portfolio companies backed.
Water reaches The Yield Lab through the farm, not the treatment plant. The water companies I track in its book are about using less water to grow more food: Kilimo and GroGuru help growers irrigate by what the soil and the satellites say rather than by habit, Hydrosat reads crop water stress in thermal infrared from orbit, and BiOceanOr and NanobOx keep the water in fish farms clean and oxygenated. It is agtech first and water second, but since farming drinks the lion's share of the world's freshwater, that overlap is where a lot of the real water savings actually live.
The Yield Lab writes early. Its water cheques land at seed and Series A, the first and second institutional rounds a startup raises, at a median ticket near 1.9 million dollars, and it has led about half of those water rounds rather than only following bigger names in. That is the useful thing to know about The Yield Lab as a water investor: it is comfortable being the first conviction cheque in a young agrifood-water company, then leaning on its global network of regional funds and corporate partners to help it grow.
For a newcomer, the way to place The Yield Lab is as an agrifood generalist with a real water habit, not a dedicated water fund. If you are building something that saves water on a farm, in an orchard or in a fish pen, its ten-fund network and its decade of agtech relationships are a genuine door. If you want a fund whose whole thesis is water, this is not quite it, and the five-company water tally, real as it is, is the honest tell.
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
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does The Yield Lab invest in?
- The Yield Lab is an early-stage agrifoodtech venture firm. It backs farm and food technology startups from seed to Series A across North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific, through ten regional funds. Water is one thread of that book, focused on irrigation, crop sensing and aquaculture rather than municipal water.
- Does The Yield Lab invest in water companies?
- The Yield Lab does invest in water, but as part of its agrifood thesis rather than as a water specialist. To date it has backed 5 water companies across 6 deals, spanning irrigation software, soil-moisture sensing, thermal crop imagery and aquaculture water quality. (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Committed.
- Who runs The Yield Lab?
- The Yield Lab was founded in 2014 by Thad Simons, former chief executive of animal-nutrition company Novus International, who serves as Managing Director. Its regional funds are led by co-founders and managing directors including Claire Pribula in Asia Pacific, Gentiane Gorlier in Europe and Roberto Vitón in Latin America.
- Where is The Yield Lab based?
- The Yield Lab is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, where it was founded in 2014, and operates as a global federation with regional funds and teams in Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific. This four-region structure lets it back agrifood and water startups close to their home markets.
- Is The Yield Lab the same as the Yield Lab Institute?
- No. The Yield Lab is the venture capital network that makes the investments, while the Yield Lab Institute is its separate non-profit arm focused on agrifood education, research and ecosystem building. If you are researching funding or water investment, the venture funds are the part you want.