This week, Florida-based water technology startup Genesis Systems, which has developed and currently manufactures what it calls “the world’s first and only sustainable air-to-water systems that can carbon capture (CO2),” announced an oversubscribed seed-stage venture capital round of $10.25 million.
The round, which is substantial for the water technology industry, will enable the company to rapidly advance and grow its revenue in key water products and services in global markets. Genesis says it plans to expand into Water-as-a-Service (WaaS) offerings and water sale agreements to high-use customers (such as manufacturing and communities).
The round was led by Paresh Ghelani, a venture capitalist and co-founder of India’s X-PRIZE as well as the X-PRIZE Water Abundance Prize, with participation from institutional investors Southland Holdings, a top U.S. construction syndicate and owner of American Bridge Company, Johnson Bros. Corporation, and Mole; the owners of 1911 Ventures, the nation’s oldest continuously operating venture fund; and individual investors Jordan Noone, co-founder of Embed Ventures and former CTO and co-founder of Relativity Space, and Dr. Ned Allen, Senior Fellow and Former Chief Scientist at Lockheed Martin.
Other participants in the round included Ambassador R. James Woolsey, 16th Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Phil Sumrall, former Apollo Program Engineer and Director of Advanced Programs at NASA, and Chad Hennings, COO of Rubicon Representation, a former NFL player and three-time Super Bowl winner.
“My partnership with Genesis is personal because as a child growing up without safe water, I know the importance of clean water,” Ghelani said in a statement on the investment. “It’s commendable to see the rapid technological progress Genesis has made. It’s second to no other air to water tech in terms of efficiency and volume. This tech is something humanity must have for sustainable water supplies. The Genesis team’s passion, drive, and precision in addressing perhaps the single most important natural resource crisis humanity faces is unmatched.”
Genesis Systems exited stealth development in 2021 with the debut of its patented WaterCube generator, which is capable of producing 1,000-2,000 gallons of water a day from air using nano-liquids. WaterCube systems are the most efficient freshwater production systems on earth that scale-up. Genesis’ liquid-based technologies can generate mass water from air at volumes between 100 gallons and 100 million gallons (306.7-acre feet) a day. Genesis says its breakthrough technology can operate at low humidity and in weather conditions that far exceed current approaches to atmospheric water generation. The system is designed to operate in the most arid regions on earth, including the Middle East and North Africa, as well water-scarce areas in the United States, Australia, and Europe.
According to data from the World Bank Group, and provided by Genesis Systems, water scarcity has the potential to negatively impact some national economies by as much as an 18 percent contraction in GDP. Data from BlackRock, also supplied by Genesis, forecasts domestic water scarcity will put 66 percent of 84,000 surveyed U.S. Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) at risk by 2030.
“Just a few short years ago we set out on a no-fail mission: Sustainably solve global water scarcity,” said Genesis CEO and co-founder Shannon Stuckenberg. “We didn’t anticipate scarcity would progress this rapidly, but we began developing new technical approaches knowing these had to be ready. Because we’re proactive, we can provide water where, when, and how customers need it. Every time Genesis Systems places life-sustaining products, we near a future when everyone on earth can access essential water in the air around them. No person should be without water. And that understanding propels us at incredible speeds.”
Genesis was incubated by military startup accelerator FedTech, under the U.S. Army Futures Command, and has won multiple U.S. Air Force grants and competitions including U.S. Army X-Tech Search 5, the Department of Defense Reimagining Energy Challenge, and letters of technical merit from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory.
