BIV Monthly Update LXVI

Written By Tom Ferguson

BIV Monthly Update LXVI – April 23rd, 2026

"So that’s what that feels like” Batman, The Dark Knight Rises

Highlights

  • The release of our first Impact Report. It has been a labor of love to adequately define our Impact mechanism, as well as to gather and represent all the data, but so glad it’s finally here. We’re so proud of what the Burnt Islanders ahave achieved, and these numbers are going to climb fast acriss the board as the Islanders scale. Join us on April 23rd for a discussion of our findings alongside HOPE Hydration and Flocean.

  • So kind of the good (and highly respected) folks at Sightline to feature us in their widel-read newsletter: Sightline Climate: The Investment Case for Water. Great visibility for water in the climate world. 

  • Thrilled to see the Why We Invested in Aquatic Labs piece go live. Allan Adams is building something genuinely novel – a continuous alkalinity sensor that performs chemistry on a chip, reagent-free, in flow. It’s not a better sensor, it’s a different category.

  • Steve’s piece on the Great Salt Lake, a fascinating dive into the dynamics of water scarcity.

  • BIV included in the ImpactAssets 50 for a 5th consecutive year. Very proud of the team and grateful to be recognized alongside so many excellent managers in the impact space.

  • CREW Carbon’s multi-facility partnership with HRSD is a huge deal. Process intensification deployed across Hampton Roads has obviated the need for large treatment plant expansions and upgrades, allowing HRSD to delay $400m in capex, possibly permanently.

  • Flocean making the Fast Company Most Innovative Companies 2026 list. The world’s first commercial subsea desalination facility at Mongstad is on track for first water in the next 3 months. It is so fun to see one of the more “moonshot” areas of the portfolio move to the next stage of becoming reality. 

  • Nomination of Aquisense and CREW for Breakthrough Technology Company of the Year, and TeamSolve’s Balibago project - awards to be announced at the Global Water Summit.

April Asks

  • If you’re a GWI subscriber, vote for Aquisense, CREW, and TeamSolve!

  • Tune into new episodes of The Fundamental Molecule: Ep. 51: Barrett Hansen – Building the System for Cash Flows in Water, and Ep. 52: Ravi Kurani – Swimming inYour Customer’s Shoes. 

  • Buy an Irrigreen system. Buy a Cala Systems heat pump water heater. Buy an AquiSense water disinfection system, also available at Lowes. Use Beagle to install a home shutoff valve.

BIV Portfolio Updates

Seed Fund I

  • 2S Water – Anthea and the team continuing to build on the Fierce Sensors Rising Stars momentum. Strong pipeline development in the industrial sensing space as AquaValid’s real-time trace metals detection gains more attention from the mining and lithium sectors.

  • Aclarity – Continued commercial PFAS destruction deployments with verified data across multiple sites. Crossing a rubicon. 

  • Aquafortus – Making real progress under CEO Hoshang Subawalla and CRO Iris Jancik. Collaboration with GS Engineering & Construction Corp. advancing well as they push into commercialization for battery manufacturing wastewaters. Series B conversations underway.

  • Beagle Services – CEO featured in a Realtor.com home improvement article. Strong revenue trajectory continues post-eight-figure 2025. One-off $3m capital addition filling up – contact us for details.

  • CivilGrid – Welcome Nidhi Menon as Chief of Staff, joining from Imagine H2O. Pipeline building across Arizona and Nevada following geographic expansion. Engineering firms and construction companies increasingly see the value of underground utility intelligence.

  • Daupler – Major recent account closings, including a large rip and replace of a competitor, and a huge close in a new target market. Closed a big chunk of ARR last week. 

  • Floodbase – Launched the Floodbase Quote API, collapsing weeks-long manual parametric flood quoting into instant workflows. Liberty Mutual now powers instant large-area parametric flood quoting for brokers via the API. This is a real platform moment.

  • Irrigreen – Recognized as one of the Five Minnesota Tech Startups to Watch in 2026. Check out a review of Irrigreen’s smart irrigation system on Wired, and Forbes article Irrigreen Brings Precision Watering To Garden Beds With Smart Drip System. Well ahead of Q1 budget.

  • LAIIER – Continuing to expand the commercial smart leak detection footprint. Building on strong CES and RAKwireless momentum. Pipeline growing across real estate, insurance, and industrial facilities.

  • NLine Energy – Executing across an ever-growing deployment pipeline ($500M+) in industrial and grid infrastructure. So many dollars just lying on the floor of every industrial boiler room.

  • SewerAI – Nominated for the East Bay Innovation Awards (March). CEO Billy Gilmartin featured in a Water Daily article about AI use in utilities. Smart Project Builder capability converting inspection and GIS data into risk-prioritized rehab project plans. New team members. 

  • Spout – Beyond breakeven for 5+ months running. Demand for the countertop atmospheric water generator continues to accelerate. Reuben is playing this stage of the company’s development nicely. 

  • Ziptility – Expanding in the contract operator space with strong results from the go-to-market motion. Profitable and scaling steadily.

  • ZwitterCo – Strong content push in March – “Stop Wasting Energy on Membrane Cleaning,” “Why Landfill Leachate Must Change,” “Why Digestate Treatment Is Shifting.” Also check out new ZwitterCo Unfiltered podcast episodes. Growing the team with key hires in mechanical design and supply chain for containerized water treatment systems.

Seed Fund II

  • AlgaFilm – Kingsville commercial demo project continues to deliver impressive results. Team execution at pace – the amount accomplished on limited capital continues to be remarkable, especially for a hardtech company. First fully commercial project on the horizon. New investment by E8 Angels. 

  • Aquatic Labs – We completed our follow-on – read our “Why We Invested in Aquatic Labs” post – the continuous alkalinity sensor is a genuine category creator. Seed extension fundraise progressing well – this year’s production fully allocated, strong demand for 2027. 

  • AquiSense – Building momentum across UV-C LED product lines, with recognition as a Breakthrough Technology Company of 2025. A decade of leadership in this space continues to pay dividends. Positioned well for 2026 growth. Completed our follow-on.

  • Cala Systems – Over 160 units sold and accelerating. Completed the oversubscription of their Seed II. Already a burgeoning national footprint, including CA. Home Assistant integration live and contractor partnerships expanding. 

  • CNSRV –  2026 Kitchen Innovations Award from the National Restaurant Association in the bag. Each unit saves commercial kitchens hundreds of thousands of gallons per year vs. traditional running water defrosting. Demand building.

  • CREW Carbon – HUGE month. Announced multi-facility partnership with HRSD (Hampton Roads Sanitation District) to deploy process intensification across Hampton Roads, saving them $400m in avoided capex. Major deployment milestone built on the back of the $32.1M Frontier offtake agreement.

  • Current Software – Inside sales motion for small water systems continuing to build at pace. Barrett H. featured on Ep. 51 of The Fundamental Molecule – $500B flows through US utilities annually, managed by antiquated software. Current is now live with 60+ customers and building fast.

  • Epoch – Sphera partnership providing first mile intelligence to 8,500+ customers going well. Strategic alliance with Altana advancing – unprecedented transparency across agriculture and forestry supply chains. Seed round in final stages.

  • Flocean – Named to Fast Company’s 2026 Most Innovative Companies list – the only desalination solution recognized. Mongstad subsea desal facility on track for first water in H1 2026. DNV has validated significant emissions reduction. This is real infrastructure, underwater.

  • HOPE Hydration – COO Cristina Gnecco named to Inc Magazine’s 2026 Female Founders 500. Featured in Miami Herald as a standout local founder story (March). Ross Hatamiya joined as CRO to support HydroStation network expansion - huge get.

  • Subeca – 5+ consecutive quarters beating budget. Deployment pipeline expanding across the US and internationally. Series A-2 first close complete as the team pushes to $5M+ this year.

  • TeamSolve – Nominated for the Global Water Awards 2026 for the Balibago Waterworks project in the Philippines. Knowledge Twin approach for utility field operations gaining traction. NYC engagement positive.

  • Previsico – Partnered with Marsh on flood risk management solutions. Liberty adopting Previsico flood detection technology. Jonathan continues to make the case for real-time forecasting as compound risk events become the norm.

  • Power & Water – Pipeline growing well. Everyone hates dealing with the price and complexity of chemicals, and it shows. Building on the Global Prize in Water Innovation momentum.

  • Waterly – Platform expanded to new product in March – digital sample management launched in partnership with SampleServe. Named to GovTech 100. Texas private utility deal opening up 100+ more plants.

Growth Fund I

Company Pipeline

Overall Pipeline: 2254 (+4)

  • Activity moderated this month as we focused more on progressing existing opportunities than adding to the top of the funnel. Quality over quantity, and selectivity continues to sharpen as Growth Fund I takes shape.

  • We continue to lean further into water-focused industrial AI - looking at tools spanning the full asset lifecycle from pre-construction planning and design optimization to real-time operations and predictive maintenance. The emergent theme of the accuracy of the need for precisely accurate, as-built data in order for further AI layers to be effective in an industrial context is an interesting emergent need. Overall, the ROI in cost savings and avoided downtime can get very big, very quickly. We’re staying close.

Market Insights

Team

  • Recruitment underway for Marketing and Investment Associate summer interns – the number and quality of applicants is outstanding. Wish we could hire them all. 

  • Kudos across the board for what continues to be a very busy stretch. Multiple fundraises, company support actions at an all-time high, year-end ops, moving into AGM and Founder Forum time, and the team consistently stepping up.

BIV Insight/Visibility

We’re Reading/Listening/Watching

Opportunities

Things to Work On‍ ‍

  • Growth Fund I fundraising – momentum building, all LP introductions enormously welcome.

  • Company support: multiple fundraises in flight across the portfolio. Busy season. Let’s get after it.

  • BIV Annual General Meeting and Founder Forum NYC on the calendar – looking forward to seeing everyone.

Tom Ferguson
Next

The Great Salt Lake: A Solvable Crisis at a Breaking Point