Burnt Island Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Burnt Island Ventures (BIV) is a New York-based venture capital firm that invests exclusively in early-stage water technology. Founded in 2020 by water industry veteran Tom Ferguson, the firm's core belief is that water is a giant, esoteric, and foundational $1.6 trillion market that underpins roughly 60% of global GDP, yet is chronically underfunded relative to its size because generalist and cleantech funds treat it as an afterthought. BIV's stated position: "you can't be good at water unless you only do water." The firm looks for founders with uncommon, lived-in insight into a niche of the water market, who focus relentlessly on a specific customer pain point, build the "whole solution" (not just the underlying technology), price with an understanding that water sales cycles are slow, and combine technical credibility with strong storytelling ability.
Sector Focus
BIV invests across the full water value chain, with particular emphasis on:
- Advanced treatment and filtration technologies (membranes, PFAS remediation, alkalinity/dosing chemistry)
- Water data, AI, and digital productivity tools for utilities and inspection workflows
- Infrastructure resilience and efficiency solutions (sewer/stormwater inspection, leak detection, flood risk)
- Climate adaptation and water reuse innovations, including desalination and carbon removal tied to wastewater treatment
- Agricultural water use and irrigation automation
Stage Focus
BIV is a seed-stage specialist. Fund II is explicitly targeting companies at the seed stage across the water value chain, though the firm has shown willingness to write larger checks into oversubscribed Series A rounds for exceptional opportunities (e.g., leading CREW's Series A alongside Builders Vision, AP Ventures, and Sony Innovation Fund).
Check Size
Exact check size ranges are not published on the website. Fund I was $30M (fully deployed across 18 companies) and Fund II closed at $50M in October 2025, implying a typical initial check in the low-to-mid six figures with reserves for follow-on, consistent with a concentrated seed-stage water fund.
Lead Tendency
BIV frequently leads. Public examples include leading Biota's $3M seed round (2026), leading CREW's Series A (2026), and being one of the first four institutional checks into SewerAI in Fund I (2021).
Recent Activity
Fund II ($50M, anchored by Xylem and WovenEarth Ventures) closed in October 2025 and is actively deploying. Since then BIV has announced new investments in Aquatic Labs (March 2026), CREW/Crew Carbon (May 2026), Biota (July 2026), and Verdi (September 2026), and reported a partial exit from Fund I when SewerAI received a significant investment from JMI Equity in mid-2026, generating Fund I's first cash distribution and third exit.
Portfolio Highlights
BIV's portfolio spans roughly 30+ companies including SewerAI (sewer inspection AI; JMI Equity growth investment, 2026), Daupler, Flocean (subsea desalination), Floodbase, Irrigreen, NLine Energy, ZwitterCo (industrial membranes), Aqua Membranes, AquiSense, Subeca, SwiftComply, TeamSolve, CivilGrid, Aclarity, Aquafortus, Beagle Services, Cala Systems, CNSRV, HOPE Hydration, Previsico, Power & Water, Waterly, Ziptility, 2S Water, AlgaFilm, Aquatic Labs, CREW (Crew Carbon), Verdi, Biota, Zilper Trenchless, and Shower Stream. Fund I is fully deployed with two prior exits plus the 2026 SewerAI partial exit, and the firm describes its Fund I performance as top-decile.
Team
- Tom Ferguson, Founder and Managing Partner — a decade in water and startups; lead author of the first CDP Water Disclosure Report (2010); built out Imagine H2O's accelerator programming (3 global programs, 500+ startups vetted per year) before founding BIV in 2020. MA, University of Edinburgh; MBA, Harvard Business School.
- Christine E. Boyle, PhD, Partner — founded and was CEO of Valor Water Analytics, acquired by Xylem in 2018; spent 5 years as VP of Digital Product Development at Xylem post-acquisition.
- Steve Kloos, PhD, Partner — former GE Water Membrane Technology Leader and member of GE's venture capital team; later Partner at True North Venture Partners.
- Jessica Pascolini, Head of Operations — 9+ years at Coatue (scaled events program), 2+ years at Strut Consulting advising fund managers on operations.
- Jennie Graham, Senior Investment Associate — background in social enterprise (Afghanistan, Myanmar, Middle East); previously at Towerview Ventures and the Ecosystem Integrity Fund.
- Marissa Sterling, Senior Platform Associate — founded Eco-Design Labs, a water-founder education program across the Middle East.
- Wayne Byrne, Operating Partner — serial cleantech/water entrepreneur with four exits, including OxyMem's sale to DuPont (2019); Co-founder/Director of Method Capital.
- Megan Siebe, Executive Assistant — executive operations and scheduling support.
Decisions appear to run through a small partnership (Ferguson, Boyle, Kloos) rather than a formal investment committee or solo GP.
Founder Preferences
BIV backs founders with deep, "lived-in" domain expertise in a specific water niche (often technical or industry operators), who can demonstrate a whole-solution business (not just a novel invention), disciplined go-to-market execution against water's slow adoption cycle, and strong communication/relationship-building ability with customers, teammates, and investors alike.
Geographic Focus
BIV is headquartered in New York, NY and invests globally, with a portfolio concentrated in the US but including international companies (e.g., CREW's technology deployed in the US and Europe; the firm markets itself as backing "the best water entrepreneurs in the world").