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ABOUT
We are an investment house passionate about leveraging technology innovations to address the water/wastewater risks faced by industry and society.
OUR TEAM
Experienced 'Water-tech' Investors
The common denominator across all our backgrounds is our view that water and wastewater challenges/risks can be addressed by leveraging technology.
Background: Mazarine was formed in 2018 as a venture capital group, with an impact mandate, entirely focused on backing early-stage technology companies with innovations that address risks relating to water and/or wastewater. Our first investment out of Fund I was in early 2019, our incubator launched in 2020, and Fund II's first investment was in January 2023. Fund III launches in 2023.
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Investment Thesis: By investing in early-stage technology companies with innovations that address water-related risks we can generate significant social and environmental impact, and financial return.
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Worldview: Water, the protagonist or 'hero' in humanity's story has become the antagonist (the disrupter) adversely affecting industries as diverse as agriculture, mineral processing, insurance, transportation, and human health. An already changed climate has now given water-the-antagonist more swagger, bringing industry and society to their knees, especially in Base of the Pyramid communities around the world.
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To offer our children's children the same quality of life we have enjoyed, we need to leverage technology to manage water quality and quantity risks.
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The Role of Technology: We can keep water-the-antagonist 'off-stage' by leveraging technological innovations that help industry and society observe (eg: IOT, geospatial, lab testing, digitization, etc), analyze (eg: AI, ML, etc), and address (eg: process engineering, earthworks, chemistry, biology, tapping new water sources, etc) water and/or wastewater risks. Sound public policy is crucial, but technology is ultimately the most effective way for industry and society to manage water/wastewater-related risks.
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Why Mazarine: We are technologists passionate about social and environmental impact, we understand markets, and know the exits.
JOHN ROBINSON
PETE NASSOS
ANDERS HALLSBY PhD
DO WE INVEST IN WATER? ​
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No. We are technology investors, backing early-stage companies with IP rooted in chemistry, data science, materials science, microbiology, and process engineering that address challenges relating to the management or use of water (and wastewater) spanning multiple industries. Ironically, most of our Fund I portfolio companies don't sell into water/wastewater utilities, but rather, industries where water is a headache, a challenge, a risk.
Terms like Investing in Water, Water Investors, Water Innovations, and even 'WaterTech' are less helpful as they mean something different to everyone and do not help drive a productive conversation. In fact, using terms like these causes confusion, and consequently, results in paralysis and/or bad investment decisions.
Mazarine’s approach is to invest in technologies that can be used across multiple market segments, and have as a common thread that they help mitigate government, business, and individual risk related to water, be it the quantity of water available (managing excess water / living with water scarcity) or water quality (making water suitable for its intended purpose).
OUR EXPERTISE
Water & Wastewater
We have spent decades commercializing technologies and building & managing businesses that provide solutions for managing water and wastewater challenges and risks across multiple industry segments.
OUR PURSUIT
Time Travelers
We look invest in founders who have been to the future and come back. These are visionaries who have defined opportunities others simply don't see yet, or don't have the ability to pursue.
OUR POINT OF VIEW
Investment Opportunities
Understanding 'water-tech' investment opportunities through the lens of risk helps us evaluate a young company's grasp of product/market fit, customer drivers, the competitive landscape, and macro head/tailwinds. We back founders who understand exactly how their company's offering addresses one or more of these 4 risks better than incumbent solutions.
Public Health & Safety Risks
Never before has the public’s awareness and concern around potable and surface water been this high or widespread. The companies Mazarine backs are bringing to market a combination of hardware, software, or business model innovations that help their customers manage water and/or wastewater-related public health & safety risks.
Higher Cost Risks
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Utilities are facing rising costs relating to managing source water and distribution, and users of water (eg: farming, mineral processing, manufacturing, commercial and residential property) are seeing the cost of water increase to levels never seen before. The companies Mazarine backs are bringing to market a combination of hardware, software, or business model innovations that help their customers manage risks associated with higher costs of water.
Environmental Protection Risks
Both the private and public sectors see an increasing need to protect and manage aquatic ecosystem assets, including: lakes, rivers, wetlands, mangroves, and estuaries, The companies Mazarine backs are bringing to market a combination of hardware, software, or business model innovations that help their customers manage natural infrastructure risks.
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Business Continuity Risks
Companies, spanning nearly every industry sector from insurance to semiconductor manufacturing to real estate are facing a myriad of water quantity and quality challenges that can bring their business to a halt, and/or decimate their bottom line. The companies Mazarine backs are bringing to market a combination of hardware, software, or business model innovations that help their customers manage water and/or wastewater-related business disruption risks.
...and each of these risks is being exacerbated by climate change
Despite the best intentions of past and ongoing decarb efforts, the atmosphere is warming, resulting in disruptions to the hydrological cycle. Industry and society's efforts to manage the above 4 risks will, unfortunately, continue to be disrupted by an already changed climate. Mazarine backs early-stage companies with innovations that help manage these risks.
Mazarine measures our impact by applying the ESG framework to score early-stage technology companies on how their innovation supports their customers’ ESG efforts.
What is our scoring model?
Mazarine developed a proprietary scoring model used during due diligence to identify and understand where and how an early-stage technology company’s innovation can support their customers in their respective E, S, or G efforts. A higher score suggests the company’s offering significantly boosts their customers’ ESG efforts, and lower a score indicates there is only nominal support.
During due diligence, an ESG score is developed for each prospective portfolio company by asking a series of probing questions that reveal impact potential in E, S or G. (See questions on the right)
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Contact Mazarine for a more detailed introduction to Mazarine's impact mission, ESG scoring model, and how each of our portfolio companies scored.
Environment:
Where and how does this company’s offering support its customers’ efforts to meet “E” goals by: a) mitigating carbon emissions, b) reducing waste and pollution, c) preserving natural resources, or d) addressing various environmental risks?
Social:
Where and how does this company’s innovation support its customers’ efforts to meet “S” goals by: a) enhancing public health & safety, b) increasing access to safe drinking water, or c) improving a utility's ability to maintain current pricing of water for its most vulnerable and lower-income customers?
Governance:
Does this company’s offering support its customers’ efforts to meet “G” goals by delivering innovations that provide: a) improved regulatory compliance, b) increased transparency and democratization of water-related data – like water quality and flooding, c) expanded conservation, or d) more efficient management of water-related assets.