Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2
Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2 is a UK venture capital fund for the East of England, managed by climate-tech merchant bank Turquoise International. Backed by European regional development funding, it invests in early-stage low-carbon companies, and its water bets sit where saving water also saves energy. As of 2026 it has backed two water companies, leading both rounds.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2 did not start as a water fund, and it still is not one, which is the first thing worth understanding about it. It began as a regional bet, a pot of European regional development money aimed squarely at the East of England, run since 2019 by Turquoise International, a London merchant bank that both advises and invests and has spent two decades doing energy and environment deals. Water turns up here because, in this fund's world, a litre saved is usually a kilowatt saved too.
Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2 backs early-stage hardware and sensors, and its two water companies fit that mould rather than the water-treatment cliche you might expect. It led both rounds it joined, putting money into ANB Sensors, which makes self-calibrating pH probes that do not drift the way ordinary ones do, and into 8power, whose sensors harvest their own electricity from the vibration of a pipe or a pump, so they never need a battery change. Neither is a treatment plant in miniature; both are instruments that make a water system cheaper to watch.
Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2 never writes a cheque on its own, and that is the part a newcomer should hold onto. By design it co-invests, adding up to a few hundred thousand pounds alongside private backers such as IP Group and Cambridge Enterprise, so its money works as a regional top-up rather than a lead institutional round. That makes it a name worth knowing for a founder in Norwich or Cambridge, and, to my eye, a quiet fingerprint of how European regional policy seeded a generation of British climate hardware.
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.
Portfolio · 2 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2 invest in?
- Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2 invests in early-stage low-carbon companies in the East of England, spanning clean energy, sensors and water efficiency. Its two water investments, ANB Sensors and 8power, are instrumentation businesses rather than water-treatment plays, reflecting a thesis that efficiency and emissions go together.
- Who manages the Low Carbon Innovation Fund?
- Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2 is managed by Turquoise International, a London merchant bank that has run energy and environment deals since 2002. The fund itself is a partnership with the University of East Anglia and Norfolk County Council, capitalised by European regional development funding.
- Where does Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2 invest?
- Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2 invests only in the East of England, the region around Norwich and Cambridge. That geographic limit comes straight from its funding source, the European Regional Development Fund, which tied the money to growing the local economy rather than chasing deals nationwide.
- How big are Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2's cheques?
- Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2 writes small, co-investment cheques, typically up to a few hundred thousand pounds and always alongside private investors rather than alone. It led both of its water rounds, backing ANB Sensors and 8power next to co-investors including IP Group and Cambridge Enterprise.
- Is Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2 the same as Turquoise International?
- No. Turquoise International is the London firm that manages the fund, while Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2 is the regional fund itself, the second in the Low Carbon Innovation Fund series. Turquoise also runs its own separate Turquoise Capital investment vehicle.