XPV Water Partners
XPV Water Partners is a Toronto-based private equity firm that invests only in water. Founded in 2006, it backs growth-stage companies solving water challenges across North America and Europe. As of May 2025 it manages more than US$1 billion in assets, after raising over US$625 million across two new funds.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
XPV Water Partners is the rare private equity firm that does nothing but water, and in May 2025 it crossed a marker most water funds never reach: more than US$1 billion in assets under management, after raising over US$625 million across two new funds. Founded in Toronto in 2006, XPV has spent nearly two decades arguing that water is not a charity case but a place to build real companies and earn real returns.
XPV Water Partners backs growth-stage businesses, not lab experiments: companies with a product already in the market and customers already paying, in fields like water reuse, smart metering and monitoring, and the equipment and services that utilities and industry depend on. Its edge is that it invests in nothing else. The team came up through the water industry itself, including operators who helped scale the Canadian water-treatment pioneer ZENON from a start-up into a business worth hundreds of millions, so they back companies as builders rather than passive cheque-writers.
XPV Water Partners is the clearest example I track of a pure-play water investor that treats the sector as an asset class in its own right, writing growth equity and working alongside management to scale. The three deals we track in our Leviathan database, in design software, metering and remote monitoring, are a thin slice of a far larger portfolio, but they fit the pattern: unglamorous, infrastructure-grade water technology with paying customers. As XPV deploys its newest funds, expect more of the same, only bigger.
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 · 3 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does XPV Water Partners invest in?
- XPV Water Partners invests only in water. It backs growth-stage companies across North America and Europe in areas such as water reuse, smart metering, monitoring, and the equipment and services that utilities and industrial users rely on, taking growth-equity stakes and helping management scale the business.
- Who runs XPV Water Partners?
- XPV Water Partners is led by Managing Partner and co-founder David Henderson, who has guided the Toronto firm's strategy since 2006. Its investment team includes Partners Khalil Maalouf and Sam Saintonge, Operating Partner John Coburn, and Investment Principal Tom Howell, backed by a wider water-focused investing group.
- How much does XPV Water Partners manage?
- XPV Water Partners manages more than US$1 billion in assets as of May 2025, a milestone it reached after raising over US$625 million across two new funds. The firm has invested in water through successive funds since it was founded in Toronto in 2006.
- Where is XPV Water Partners based?
- XPV Water Partners is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, and invests across North American and European water markets. Founded in 2006, it is one of the few private equity firms in the world dedicated exclusively to water, from technology and equipment to water-focused services.
- Is XPV Water Partners a venture capital or private equity firm?
- XPV Water Partners is a private equity firm, though it invests across the growth spectrum and is sometimes described as a growth-equity investor. It backs water companies that already have products and paying customers rather than early, pre-revenue startups, and takes growth-stage positions in them.