Aquaria, a company building communities and cities supplied with water from the sky, announced it secured $112 million to build the future of water infrastructure. Investors include Mistletoe, Ciri Ventures, Soma Capital, HF0, Bow Capital, Umami Capital and former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt. As part of the funding, Aquaria has signed an agreement with Upwell Water to provide $100 million to facilitate the deployment of Aquaria’s solutions to qualifying projects.
With this new funding round, the company will actively seek out sustainable atmospheric water investment projects and continue to expand its footprint into new regions. Aquaria has already built the first homes in the world where the entire water supply is harnessed from the air and is currently building 1,000 homes in Hawaii supplied by atmospheric water.
This residential community will also be built with solar and batteries to reduce the energy challenges faced by islands like Hawaii. Aquaria’s technology is modular and scalable, like batteries, and its units can be a complement or alternative to traditional water infrastructure, which is either too costly or time-consuming. Aquaria’s air-water infrastructure can be built in a small amount of time.
This technology can be stacked in parallel to scale production like battery deployments, forming what Aquaria calls a “Hydrogrid” – a water form similar to a solar farm. It is also compatible with and deployed with different types of renewable energy.
This new funding round will be directed toward developing and financing sustainable, secure water supply solutions for residential, hospitality, and commercial properties. And property developers can demonstrate water access, overcoming restrictions where permits are often denied due to limited water availability. And Aquaria’s “water from air” solutions streamline project development, reduce timelines, and unlock new sources of water for growth. Property managers can also use Aquaria’s drinking water solutions to provide immediate potable water access to thousands of people per unit.
Aquaria is also exploring mid-scale water supply opportunities in regions lacking sufficient access to traditional infrastructure. Sectors such as green hydrogen production, mining, and data centers are often located in remote areas where water provision is complex and costly. These projects fall between the scale where trucked water is inefficient and large infrastructure projects are too expensive or time-consuming.
Through project financing secured from Upwell, Aquaria is now actively seeking investment opportunities to scale Atmospheric Water Generation (AWG) deployments. Aquaria will cover 100% of the upfront costs for qualifying projects, allowing partners to sign flexible, pay-over-time agreements, similar to financing models used in the solar industry. And this approach significantly lowers barriers to large-scale adoption and accelerates the commercialization of Aquaria’s atmospheric Hydrogrid technology.
Aquaria’s technologies focus on large-scale ambient heat exchange systems, with a core focus on thermal materials, immersion cooling, and stacking cooling systems applied to atmospheric water capture. The company has partnered with Stanford University’s Head of Atmospheric Sciences Program, Mark Jacobson, to support research around energy and water integration innovations, combining atmospheric water generators with microgrids to harness solar energy for water production.
As of November 12, 2024, nearly 42% of the US is in a state of drought (Drought.gov), with contamination and disruptive events continuing to accelerate. The American Society of Civil Engineers rates the water infrastructure in the United States as C-, and there is an urgent need to build faster, redundant, and more resilient forms of water infrastructure.
KEY QUOTES:
“Our air not only supplies us with the oxygen we need to breathe, it provides us with the essential water we need to survive. As one of Earth’s most bountiful resources, we’ve yet to unlock atmospheric water to its fullest potential – until now. Aquaria is introducing a future of sustainable and renewable water for all. We envision a world where Aquaria supplies entire cities with water from the sky.”
– Brian Sheng, co-founder and CEO of Aquaria
“Upwell Water is pleased to support Aquaria with capital and teamed solutions to deliver decentralized water to communities. We note the improvement of the cost of delivered water in the atmospheric water generation segment, and look forward to contributing to meet Aquaria’s growing customer demand.”
– Dr. Hu Fleming, President of Upwell Water’s Treatment division
“Southeast Asia is facing a climate crisis, in which water access is a core issue. We’re happy to help bring Aquaria’s sustainable technology solutions to counter the water crisis in Asia. Aquaria’s mission of making water accessible to all aligns with our goal of developing a sustainable future, addressing global climate problems through innovations in technology.”
– Taizo Son of Mistletoe
“America is the leader in innovation in many diverse sectors, and we must approach our efforts to combat climate change and sustainability issues with the same vigor and eagerness that we have in technology, space, AI and more. I truly believe that Aquaria has built an innovative technology that will solve the water challenges that are so prevalent in this country by integrating and enhancing our existing water infrastructure to harvest clean water from our greatest natural resource: the air.”
– Former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt
