Water Unite Impact
Water Unite Impact is a London-based impact fund backing water, sanitation, and recycling companies across emerging markets. Managed by Wellers Impact, it channels a micro-levy on bottled water into catalytic growth capital. As of 2026, Water Unite Impact has backed 4 water companies and led most of those rounds.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Water Unite Impact is one of the only funds in water built on a charge you have probably already paid. Its backer, the UK non-profit Water Unite, persuaded retailers including the Co-op to add a tiny voluntary micro-levy on bottled water and other products, then pooled those pennies into investment capital. Water Unite Impact is where that money goes to work as finance, not charity.
Water Unite Impact runs a blended-finance model, which simply means it mixes two kinds of money to lower the risk for everyone else. The levy income sits in a first-loss tranche that absorbs early losses, which makes the senior capital from family offices, wealthy individuals, and development finance institutions (the government-backed banks that invest in poorer countries) far safer. The whole point is to pull private money into the corner of water that almost nobody funds.
What Water Unite Impact actually backs is the water sector's missing middle in emerging markets: companies too big for a grant and too small or too risky for a commercial bank. (don't) Waste Water tracks four of its portfolio companies across four deals, and the pattern is plain. Jibu franchises solar-powered water kiosks across East Africa, Seabex runs AI-driven precision irrigation, Gree Energy turns agricultural waste into energy, and Flocean is pushing desalination units onto the seabed. Frontier hardware and basic access, sitting side by side.
The signal worth watching is who now stands behind Water Unite Impact. In October 2024 the US International Development Finance Corporation committed $7.5 million to the fund, a vote of confidence from a major government investor in a model that started as spare change at the checkout. For a newcomer, that is the read: philanthropy and institutional capital learning to invest in water together, in the markets that need it most.
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 · 4 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does Water Unite Impact invest in?
- Water Unite Impact invests in for-profit water, sanitation, hygiene, and plastics-recycling companies in emerging markets, the missing middle that grants and commercial banks both overlook. (don't) Waste Water tracks four of its portfolio companies, spanning solar water kiosks, precision irrigation, waste-to-energy, and subsea desalination.
- Who manages Water Unite Impact?
- Water Unite Impact is managed by Wellers Impact, an FCA-authorised impact investment manager based in London and Nairobi. The fund's portfolio is run by Partner Cyrille Antignac, alongside Senior Partner Usha Rao-Monari, a former UN Under-Secretary-General, and Wellers Impact CEO Neil Sandy.
- How does the Water Unite micro-levy work?
- Water Unite Impact is funded partly by a micro-levy: a tiny voluntary contribution that partner retailers, including the UK Co-op, add to bottled water and other products. Those contributions form catalytic, first-loss capital that absorbs early risk and pulls private investors into water and sanitation deals.
- Is Water Unite Impact a government fund?
- Water Unite Impact is not a government fund; it is a private impact fund backed by retailer micro-levies, charitable foundations, and impact investors. It does count government-backed development finance among its supporters: in 2024 the US International Development Finance Corporation committed $7.5 million to the fund.
- Where is Water Unite Impact based?
- Water Unite Impact is based in London, United Kingdom, and invests globally with a focus on emerging markets across Africa and beyond. It launched in 2021 as the investment vehicle of the non-profit Water Unite, managed by impact-investment manager Wellers Impact.