Introducing Fund II

Building off our investment experience in Fund I (now closed), in January 2022 Mazarine launced Fund II to continue backing early-stage companies with innovations that align with our investment thesis

New fund, same thesis Fund II invests in early-stage technology companies that are already seeing commercial traction, nearing $1M in annual sales, and have IP that improves efficiencies and/or mitigates risks relating to water or wastewater in agriculture, aquaculture, buildings, climate, conservation, financial services, industry, power generation, and/or utilities.

Making an impact Mazarine views water as a risk. Whether public or private sector, rich countries or poor countries, farmers, miners, builders, lenders, and the water at my kitchen tap, the management and use of water is a problem, a headache, ..... a risk. It's factual to say 'water is our most precious resource' or 'water is life', but when looking to make a social or environmental impact, we find the most effective strategy is to back companies with innovations that help their customer reduce or eliminate water quality or quantity-related risks.

How does Fund II invest? For seed-stage opportunities Fund II prefers to set the terms for convertible/safe notes, and we will likely make more than one investment over a period of 1-2 years as our confidence in the founder(s) grows. In Fund I, a majority of the companies received 2 or more checks from Mazarine. For priced rounds we tend to follow whomever the lead investor is.

Syndication

Mazarine maintains an investor syndicate of early-stage investors including retired executives, angels, and other venture and impact funds. Beyond their money, companies in Mazarine Fund II benefit from the experience, expertise, and connections our syndicate brings to the table. In Fund I, we led syndication for many of the portfolio company investment rounds, bringing in 14 other checkbooks who followed our due diligence and convictions. We are technology investors, not 'water investors' We don't invest in 'water', we invest in companies with IP rooted in Chemistry, Data Science, Diagnostics, Computer Engineering, Information & Communication Technology (ICT), Materials Science, Metagenomics, Microbiology, and Process Engineering. We are technology investors backing young companies with hardware, software, or business model innovations that address inefficiencies or risks all relating to water and/or wastewater.

In Fund I, we regard companies like SimpleLab and WaterClick as business model innovations leveraging software, cloud computing, and AI to realize the benefits of a marketplace. ​ What problems are Fund II companies solving? While their innovations address some aspect of water or wastewater, ultimately their customers face inefficiencies and risks relating to: the increasing Cost of Water, business continuity, health & safety, protecting natural infrastructure, decarbonization, and climate adaptation.

What industries are Fund II portfolio companies in? The management and use of water is an operational, financial, or brand risk for many industries spanning agriculture, aquaculture, buildings, climate, conservation, financial services, industry, and power generation. Mazarine often finds itself in technology verticals where water/wastewater play a central role, including health-tech, climate-tech, fin-tech, prop-tech, reg-tech, insur-tech, and even transportation-tech. ​ How is the ESG framework utilized? Measure impact by applying the ESG framework to score portfolio companies on how their innovation supports their customers’ ESG efforts.

Mazarine's Fund II will make its first investment in Q1 2022. More on Fund II here.