Smart Water Infrastructure & Analytics
Smart water metering, leak detection, SCADA/analytics, stormwater management, water reuse, and the utility-tech vendors and advisors serving municipal and industrial water systems.
Experts
Grouped by archetype · searchableFounder / Operator
10Tom Deitrich
President & Chief Executive Officer
Itron
Runs the only public-company platform with credible scale across electricity, gas, AND water utility metering. Uniquely cross-theme.
Matthew Pine
President & Chief Executive Officer
Xylem
Runs the largest public water-tech platform. Definitive operator perspective on smart-water and metering economics.
Ken Bockhorst
Chairman, President & CEO
Badger Meter
Runs the highest-growth public smart-water-metering pure-play. Most relevant operator comp for the cellular AMI transition.
Marietta (Martie) Edmunds Zakas
Former President & CEO; Board Director (BlueLinx Holdings)
Mueller Water Products (Former CEO)
Runs the leading public leak-detection / pressure-management platform. Direct comp for non-revenue-water (NRW) economics.
Orianna Bretschger
CEO & Co-Founder
Aquacycl
Founder-CEO of the most-differentiated industrial-wastewater technology. Credible disruptor in a slow-moving category.
Mahesh Lunani
Founder & CEO
Aquasight
Founder of the leading AI-native platform serving the full water lifecycle, from drinking-water plants through distribution to wastewater.
Trevor Hill
Executive Chairman
FATHOM
Pioneer of the smart-water SaaS category. FATHOM was utility-incubated, which gives Hill a uniquely operational lens on what utilities actually buy.
Colby Manwaring
Senior Director, Water Industry; Former CEO Innovyze
Autodesk
Architect of the $1B smart-water-software exit comp that defines valuation expectations for the category.
Prateek Joshi
Investor
Moxxie Ventures; Former Founder of Pluto AI / Plutoshift
Early-stage founder applying ML to water-treatment plant operations, a category most incumbents still treat as a SCADA-data backwater.
Christopher (Chris) Franklin
Chairman & CEO (Executive Vice Chair-designate post American Water merger)
Essential Utilities
Leads the consolidator of U.S. water utilities and architect of the largest water-utility combination in history. Defines the policy and capital framework everyone else operates within.
Strategic Advisor
2M. Susan Hardwick
Board Director (Tetra Tech); Former President & CEO (American Water)
Tetra Tech / Previously American Water
Most recently sitting CEO of the largest U.S. publicly-traded water utility. Top-tier advisor for any water-utility-adjacent thesis.
Patrick Decker
Former CEO (Xylem); Board Director (Johnson Controls, CRH); Poling Chair (Indiana Kelley)
Multiple boards; previously Xylem
The most accomplished water-technology CEO of the past decade, now actively investing in and advising the next wave of water infrastructure.
Peer Fund / Dealmaker
2Sadek Wahba
Founder & Managing Partner
I Squared Capital
Mid-large-cap infrastructure GP with the most public conviction on U.S. grid build-out as a multi-decade investment thesis.
David Henderson
Managing Partner
XPV Water Partners
Runs the only dedicated water-sector PE platform of meaningful scale. Most informed view on water-tech valuations and deal flow globally.
Companies
Ranked by edge depthItron
Global provider of utility AMI smart-metering and grid-edge intelligence across electricity, gas, and water utilities. NASDAQ: ITRI.
I Squared Capital
Miami-based global infrastructure private-equity firm with $50B+ AUM. Founded 2012 by former Morgan Stanley Infrastructure executives.
Xylem
Largest pure-play public water-technology company; markets smart-water metering under the Sensus brand in North America. NYSE: XYL.
Badger Meter
U.S. water-meter and flow-instrumentation company. NYSE: BMI. Net sales of $826.6M in 2024 (+18% YoY). Cellular AMI architecture and BlueEdge suite.
Mueller Water Products
U.S. water-infrastructure products company; valves, hydrants, leak-detection (EchoShore), and pressure management. NYSE: MWA.
Aquacycl
Industrial wastewater treatment using BioElectrochemical Treatment Technology (BETT®). Microbial fuel cells. 10x faster pollutant removal vs. conventional treatment, 50%+ GHG reduction.
American Water Works
Largest U.S. publicly-traded water and wastewater utility. 14M customers across 24 states. NYSE: AWK.
Aquasight
Real-time AI and analytics platform for the full water lifecycle (drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, distribution), serving municipal and IOU water utilities.
FATHOM
Cloud-based SaaS platform for water utilities: AMI integration, automated billing, customer service, leak detection. Serves ~4M U.S. water customers.
Innovyze
Smart-water infrastructure modeling and simulation software; acquired by Autodesk for $1B in April 2021. Now integrated into Autodesk's water-industry business.
Autodesk
Public design and engineering software company (NASDAQ: ADSK). Owns Innovyze and is advancing a digital-twin strategy for water utilities globally.
Pluto AI
Venture-backed AI platform for water-treatment plant operations.
Johnson Controls International
Global diversified building-technology and water systems company (NYSE: JCI).
XPV Water Partners
Toronto-based water-focused private-equity / growth-equity firm; $1B+ AUM (May 2025). Only dedicated water-sector PE platform of meaningful global scale.
Tetra Tech
Global engineering and consulting firm focused on water, environment, sustainable infrastructure, and energy projects. NASDAQ: TTEK.
Essential Utilities
Publicly traded parent of Aqua America (water/wastewater) and Peoples Natural Gas; serves ~5M people across 10 U.S. states. Announced $40B merger with American Water Works in 2025.
Harris Williams
Middle-market M&A advisory firm with active Water & Wastewater sector coverage and recurring quarterly outlook reports.