Despite Drought, Water Tech Investments Decline

Silicon Valley investors aren’t opening their pocketbooks for water and wastewater technology startups, despite California’s worsening drought and water restrictions imposed by Gov. Jerry Brown earlier this month.

The New York Times reports new investments in water startups declined 39 percent last year to $358 million, with the number of deals falling by 42 percent to the lowest level since 2009, according to Cleantech Group’s i3 research group.

Brook Porter, a partner in Kleiner Perkins Caulfield and Byers Green Growth Fund, tells the newspaper that the market is “daunting” for startups, adding the problems are market-based — inefficient or nonexistent pricing mechanisms and inflexible regulatory bodies and rules — as opposed to technology-based. “Water is not a rational market today,” he says.

Photo Credit: crop irrigation via Shutterstock