Wavemaker Partners
Wavemaker Partners is a Southeast Asia venture capital firm, based in Singapore, that backs early-stage Enterprise, Deep Tech, and Sustainability startups. Its water footprint sits inside that sustainability bet: two Series A companies, Singapore's chemical-free wastewater firm Hydroleap and solar-irrigation startup Agros. As of June 2026 it manages around US$600 million across multiple funds.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Wavemaker Partners is Southeast Asia's home-grown generalist VC, started in 2012 across Los Angeles and Singapore by Eric Manlunas and Paul Santos, and today it runs about US$600 million across three buckets: Enterprise, Deep Tech, and Sustainability. Water is a thread inside that third bucket, not a standalone thesis, so this is a sustainability investor that happens to touch water, rather than a dedicated water fund.
Wavemaker Partners says 95% of its active Southeast Asia portfolio now contributes to at least one UN Sustainable Development Goal, and the two companies that put it on a water radar both live in that vertical. The names are Hydroleap and Agros. Hydroleap, out of Singapore, swaps chemicals for electricity to pre-treat industrial and construction wastewater; Agros sells solar-powered irrigation pumps that let smallholder farmers grow year-round. Both are Series A, and both sit where water meets carbon.
Wavemaker Partners routes its deepest climate conviction through Wavemaker Impact, a separate US$60 million venture-builder that co-founds 100x100 companies, each meant to abate 100 million tonnes of carbon. The same partners anchor the water story: Paul Santos, PropertyGuru co-founder Steve Melhuish, and ex-nuTonomy operator Doug Parker, who now invests squarely in water and waste technology. That overlap is the reason a regional generalist keeps surfacing on water cap tables.
Wavemaker Partners reads to me, for a newcomer scanning Southeast Asia, less like a water specialist and more like a regional generalist with a widening climate edge. The water exposure is early and small, two deals, but it is deliberate, and it is staffed by partners who have built and exited companies of their own.
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 Wavemaker Partners invest in?
- Wavemaker Partners invests in early-stage Enterprise, Deep Tech, and Sustainability startups across Southeast Asia, mostly from seed to Series A. Since 2012 it has backed over 200 companies. Its water exposure sits in the sustainability vertical, with two Series A bets, Hydroleap and Agros.
- Does Wavemaker Partners invest in water?
- Wavemaker Partners is a generalist Southeast Asia VC, not a water specialist, but it holds two water-related companies: Hydroleap, a Singapore chemical-free wastewater treatment firm, and Agros, a solar-irrigation startup. (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Committed.
- Who runs Wavemaker Partners?
- Wavemaker Partners was co-founded in 2012 by Managing Partner Paul Santos, who runs the Singapore and Southeast Asia practice, and General Partner Eric Manlunas in Los Angeles. The partnership also includes Steve Melhuish, Doug Parker, and Andy Hwang, several of whom anchor its climate work.
- Where is Wavemaker Partners based?
- Wavemaker Partners is dual-headquartered in Singapore and Los Angeles, with its Southeast Asia investing run from Singapore since 2012. The firm manages around US$600 million across multiple funds and focuses on the Southeast Asia region across enterprise, deep tech, and sustainability.
- Is Wavemaker Partners the same as Wavemaker the media agency or Wavemaker Impact?
- No. Wavemaker Partners is a Southeast Asia venture capital firm. Wavemaker, or GroupM Wavemaker, is a separate global media-buying agency with no connection. Wavemaker Impact is an affiliated but distinct US$60 million climate-tech venture-builder co-founded by some of the same partners.