These are the questions we get on a regular basis.
Plainly stated: Mazarine Climate is venture capital for hydroclimatic risk. We back early-stage, AI-native companies helping industry and society measure, price, and manage the water-driven side of climate change.
Essentially, no. We treat water as a risk factor, not a sector. That means we do not invest in drinking-water utilities, wastewater plants, desalination, or atmospheric water generation. We invest where too much water, too little water, or impaired water hits a balance sheet — infrastructure, insurance, real estate, and power.
In plain English: it is the economic damage caused by floods, droughts, storms, sea-level rise, and the cascading hazards they trigger — landslides, algal blooms, erosion, and more. It is the defining climate risk of the coming decade, and it is already the dominant driver of insured climate losses.
To be clear, we concentrate on four:
In other words, we do not invest in the water industry as most people picture it. We invest where hydroclimatic risk shows up inside balance sheets that traditionally had nothing to do with “water.”
We lead and co-lead seed and early Series A checks, typically $500K to $2M. We reserve capital for follow-ons and we syndicate with other climate-tech and sector-focused investors who understand the buyer.
Put simply: depth over breadth. Most climate funds spread across mitigation, adaptation, energy, food, and materials. We do one thing — hydroclimatic risk — and we built the team, network, and portfolio around that single vertical.
In plain numbers: the hydroclimatic risk technology market is roughly a $110 billion opportunity by 2030, growing at about 16% annually. The spend is driven by disclosure rules, insurance repricing, and direct asset exposure — in other words, buyers who have to spend, not just want to.
The firm is led by two General Partners, John Robinson and Shirley Ben-Dak, who have been working together in water risk for six years in various capacities, including venture experience with hands-on technical depth in hydrology, atmospheric science, and coastal oceanography.
As of Q3 2026, we have made four investments and expect the portfolio to include about 15 companies when we are done investing. The portfolio spans sensing companies for roads and water quality, real-time marine monitoring, and parametric climate insurance — each sitting at the intersection of hydroclimatic risk and a compelled buyer with a real budget.
Essentially, no. In the abstract it is all water — too much, too little, or impaired — but it is not the water industry. We are building a portfolio of companies that would likely never attend the traditional 'water' conferences and expos. This is a climate-tech fund, on the adaptation side, and entirely focused on the hydroclimatic risk vertical.
Whether you are a founder, partner, or simply curious about the space, we would welcome the opportunity to walk through the thesis, portfolio, and pipeline in more detail.