BIV Monthly Update LXIII

Written By Tom Ferguson

BIV Monthly Update LXIII – 1/18/2026

“Perfect. Do it again.” Don Diego de la Vega, The Mask of Zorro

Highlights

  • Fantastic to be joined by so many of our LPs and broader network in Denver for the Mile High Splash and BIV Dinner in Denver. Steve did an absolutely unbelievable job as the MC. A sight to behold. 

  • Articulating the next pillar of our strategy: Why We’re Building Our First Growth Fund. All feedback welcome. We’ve established Growth Fund I in response to the clear inflection point that has arrived in the water market: “The End of the Beginning - Financing in Water is Entering its Growth Era”.

  • Christine, Steve and I had 2 excellent days in Denver for our end of year Partner meeting. How lucky I am to work alongside these two colossal minds. Some important decisions made (deep breath….). 

  • GREAT to have two days in Boston to kick off the year, the first with Cala Systems who have completed their Seed II and are oversubscribing to build inventory in the face of excess demand. Reach out if you want to meet Michael. I recommend it. The second was with the OCP Group and Bidra, alongside a bunch of other fun people (Wellington, Builders VC, Nuveen, and always great to see Craig from Aqua Membranes). Bidra are a wonderful LP. 

  • A super Christmas in Scotland followed by a wonderful New Year and birthday in the very snowy Hudson Valley. Thank you Ruki for enabling (and preparing) everything. 

January Asks

BIV Portfolio Updates

Seed Fund I

Seed Fund II

  • AquiSense – Finished strong in 2025 with significant YoY revenue and % margin increases. What a huge year - they exited their Japanese parent to become a standalone company in January, BIV invested in March, they hit most goals, and they are well positioned for 2026 across product lines.

  • Cala Systems – The marketing engine continues to churn. Featured in Yahoo News for how they’re saving consumers up to $750 every year on their water heating bill and in TechBrew on why Energy-efficient buildings are performing well and creating more jobs, new reports find.

  • CREW Carbon – A well-deserved feature in The Boston Globe – Could your city’s sewage capture carbon? A New Haven startup is putting it to the test.

  • Current Software – 2025 wrapped with tremendous validation of the inside sales approach for reaching and selling into small water systems. 8x growth year.  

  • Epoch Blue – Signed a new platform partnership, giving EPOCH access to 9380 corporates and  180K suppliers, in aggregate.  Planning in the works for a fundraise to build on the momentum. 

  • HOPE Hydration – Named to the 20 South Florida startups to watch in 2026. 

  • Subeca – A fabulous 2025 Wrapped and much to look forward to in 2026. Check it out here. A properly fast start to the year - people waking up that AMI doesn’t have to cost a zillion dollars. 

  • TeamSolve – At the 4th SWAN - The Smart Water Networks Forum Asia-Pacific Workshop, SA Water, Water Corporation and TeamSolve showed how artificial intelligence and digital twins are converging to deliver operational efficiency and sustainability.

  • Flocean – Announced that the world's first subsea desalination facility will in start producing water in 1H 2026, and the strong media attention grows, eg The Business Standard, New Scientist and Interesting Engineering.

  • AlgaFilm – In final stages of commissioning the first commercial demonstration facility - and is that a first fully commercial project we see on the horizon? This team has accomplished so much on so little investor capital - even more remarkable as a hardtech company. Experience and drive mean faster execution and fewer mistakes.

  • Previsico – Strong argument from Jonathan in Reinusrance News on why 2026. 2026 will be a pivotal year for flood insurance.

  • Power & Water – Shortlisted among 70 firms for Saudi Arabia’s upcoming water and wastewater PPPs. 

  • Waterly – Sale closed with a major private utility in Texas opening up Waterly’s platform to 100 more plants.  Exploring market expansion into industrial water service providers.  Also launched 2 new products in Q4  - Samples and Analytics.  

Growth Fund I

  • Aqua Membranes – Launched their Low Energy RO Element, which customers have been begging for. Hosting a session on Feb 10 at 9am PT / 12pm ET with their CEO, CTO, and Application Engineering Manager for a technical session built for engineers, OEMs, and system designers. Register here.

  • Daupler – 22 new U.S. utilities chose Daupler to modernize their response management as they continue to expand their utility customer base.

  • Irrigreen – Closing in on an exceptional BD leader. More and more pull from the market in the B2B channel. Incumbents taking notice. 

Work with the Burnt Islanders

  • All open roles with the Burnt Islanders are advertised through the BIV Jobs Board which is accessible here

Company Pipeline

  • Overall Pipeline: 2144 (+44)

  • We are narrowing in on several high potential opportunities in smart infrastructure tools - from planning and design through monitoring and management. With only a few slots remaining in Fund II, the bar is extra high!

Market Insights

Team

  • Always so insightful to go through the end of year review process - the degree of generosity and insight and support this team gives to each other is remarkable, without sugar-coating where we all can improve. 

  • Wonderful to have Eliza Harrison with us for another semester - she’s epic. 

BIV Insight/Visibility

We’re Reading/Listening/Watching

  • Uncapped #36 | Pat Grady & Alfred Lin from Sequoia

  • Acquired’s epic 3-part series on Google (Ep 1 here). Their 10-year anniversary episode is also required listening for anyone with an interest in media properties. The generalised lesson of quality, first, all the time, is universal.

  • ZBIG - the biography of Zbigniev Brzezinski by Edward Luce - fascinating to get inside the mind of someone who saw the world as a chessboard. Thanks Dad!

  • One Battle After Another - PTA is a magnificent filmmaker, and Ruki is totally right, imprints of Maya Rudolph on the hilarious script.

Opportunities

Things to Work On

  • Oh I may spend some time on Growth Fund I fundraising I guess…

  • Clear timetable of spikes in company support needs (especially around fundraising). There will be a lot of rounds to shepherd this year, and we’re redoubling our efforts on our support for capital access. It’ll be fun - these are great companies. 

Tom Ferguson
Next

Why We’re Building Our First Growth Fund