BIV Monthly Update LIX

Written By Tom Ferguson

BIV Monthly Update LIX – 9/9/25

“Trade secrets, my son.” John Mason The Rock

Highlights

  • Welcome to the Burnt Island Dylan Wolff and CNSRV! We love this company, such an insane pain point, such huge impact potential. 

  • Got into a good publishing cadence on our blog. Some good arguments crafted. Check them out. 

  • Announcing the promotions of Marissa and Jennie! Absurdly well-deserved. 

  • Awesome to be collaborating with a major LP on a Fund II company. More details to follow. 

  • Completing our investment in a supply chain data company that we think will be instrumental in uncovering and monitoring water risk. So much to like. 

  • Term sheet signed for the Series A of a carbon removal and chemical reduction company in the wastewater treatment space. Also finally will have a fintech company for utilities. It's been a long time coming, so glad it’s here. 

  • I did a 17.6 mile solo hike in under 6 hours (3,700 vertical feet) in the Catskills. Type II fun for sure. Loved it. 

  • Amazing final weekend to the Summer - 40th in Western Mass, the Best Roast In The World, and Labor Day bbq. 

September Asks

BIV Portfolio Updates

Seed Fund I

Seed Fund II

Growth Fund I

  • Aqua Membranes – Will be showcasing the Printed Spacer Technology at WEFTEC 2025. A major distribution agreement is right there. Another massive technical breakthrough moving into commercial stages. Will open their TN factory this month. 

  • Daupler –  Close to hiring their marketing lead (finally) - amazing to get to $7.5m ARR without one. BIG value inflection coming. 

  • Irrigreen – Featured in Forbes for announcing their third-generation sprinkler system, Irrigreen 3.0, and their new U.S.-based manufacturing. Two important partnerships maturing.

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: 1863 (+43)

  • No summer slowdown here - we’ve been busy assessing deals across supply chain water risk, utility fintech, and robotics for infrastructure repair.

  • This month brought us some exciting pre-seed prospects. Great to see us gaining access to top founding teams earlier and earlier. 

Market Insights

  • Cooley’s Q1 2025 report shows VC deal volume at a multi-year low, yet total capital invested hit $14.6B, inflated by record-sized late-stage tech deals.

  • Claros Technologies secured $10 million in financing to scale up its PFAS destruction technology for global deployment.

  • A "seed-strapping" trend is defining water tech investment, writes Antoine Walter.

  • M&A in the environmental sector remains strong, evidenced by the IMM Consortium's $1.59B acquisition of Ecorbit, Korea’s leading water and waste management company.

  • Western Midstream will acquire Aris Water Solutions in a $1.5 billion deal, creating an integrated water value chain in the Delaware Basin.

  • A recent executive order directs the Department of Labor to consider allowing alternative assets including private equity as investment options in 401(k) plans.

  • The Financial Times is tracking a global increase in extreme weather events, using data from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

  • Allianz’s Gunther Thallinger wrote an interesting piece on the systemic financial risk from climate change, as rising extreme weather events could make entire regions uninsurable and threaten credit markets.

Team

  • Thanks to Sage for an excellent summer with us. Bravo.

  • Everyone worked really hard this month. Thank you. 

BIV Insight/Visibility

We’re Reading/Listening/Watching

  • Cherry Bekaert's H1 2025 Private Equity report shows a strong start to the year followed by a Q2 slowdown due to market volatility.

  • Interesting to monitor progress of overall AI sentiment. The version of the world where we look back on the run-up in the same way we do with 2001 is a useful frame to interpret what we could be seeing. The hype logic is clear. 

  • We predicted the softening of the private credit market by year end, and it looks as if the turn is coming…

  • Acquired two-part breakdown of Google/Alphabet is so good. 

  • Sign up for Priya Parker’s substack. She’s so insightful, fun, and funny. 

  • Hostage is twisty and fun. 

Opportunities and a little bit of everything

  • Grant funding for climatetech startups in Massachusetts. (deadline: Rolling)

  • NYC program for innovative environmental tech solutions. (deadline: Rolling)

  • EarthScale is a 12-month programme helping UK climate tech ventures scale. (deadline: Rolling)

  • The DARPA ERIS Marketplace is accepting 7-minute video submissions for DoD tech adoption. (deadline: rolling monthly)

  • The Global Prize for Innovation in Water offers $2M for breakthrough water solutions. Hosted in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (deadline: December 8, 2025)

  • Roundtable on water as an investment megatrend. (deadline: September 16, 2025)

  • Investor and family office summit during Climate Week NYC. (deadline: September 22, 2025)

  • a16z is offering a 12-month fellowship for engineers with 2-5 years of experience to join their American Dynamism investment team.

  • World Water Tech Summit will convene with 500 global leaders in water in London. (Happening: Feb 24-25, 2026)

  • Sustainable Innovation Seed Accelerator is an 8-week program in Nairobi for seed-stage startups across Africa (deadline: September 18, 2025)

  • Water industry’s global executive summit hosted in Madrid (deadline: May 17, 2026)

Things to Work On

  • Rugby analogy, but I need to be like prime-era Jonah Lomu for this next stage.

  • Surviving September. Thanks so much to Ruki & Kiyan for their patience. 

Thanks so much as ever. 

Tom Ferguson
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Why We Invested in CNSRV