By Ollie Potter | Last updated: April 2026 | 9 min read

By 2030, global freshwater demand will exceed supply by 40%, leaving 1.6 billion people without safe drinking water. Traditional desalination burns through energy and money. The new generation of water tech startups is rewriting the economics.

Wave-powered systems eliminate electricity costs entirely. Subsea pods harness natural ocean pressure. Industrial wastewater becomes a lithium mine. The race is on to make clean water abundant and cheap.

Oneka Technologies is the one to watch. Wave-powered desalination eliminates the biggest cost in traditional plants: electricity. Their buoys are already producing water in Florida and Chile. They qualified for the $119M XPRIZE Water Scarcity Challengeand secured $3.4M from the US Department of Energy. While competitors chase marginal efficiency gains, Oneka made the energy cost zero.

The only wave-powered desalination system producing water at commercial scale.

Founded: 2015 | HQ: Sherbrooke, Canada | Funding: CA$21.4M across 7 rounds

Oneka Technologies harnesses ocean waves to pressurize seawater and drive reverse osmosis systems. Zero electricity. Zero land space. Zero greenhouse gas emissions. Each modular buoy produces 200-1,000 m³ of fresh water daily and pipes it ashore.

The company raised CA$12.5M in Series B in 2023, led by family offices including the Hoffecker Family. They've deployed their first commercial installation at Ocean Village POA in Fort Pierce, Florida, and launched a demonstration project in Algarrobo, Chile. Canada's Ocean Supercluster announced a CA$14.1M project to scale the technology.

Oneka qualified for the XPRIZE Water Scarcity Challenge, a $119M competition, and won funding from the US DOE's Powering the Blue Economy Initiative. They're now deploying around 30,000 units. While solar desalination still needs batteries and grid backup, Oneka's waves never stop.

Buildings that recycle 95% of their own wastewater while most cities waste it all.

Founded: 2015 | HQ: San Francisco, USA | Funding: $24M across 4 rounds

Epic CleanTec turns apartment buildings into self-sufficient water systems. Their onsite treatment recycles wastewater for toilets, irrigation, and laundry. They also recover heat from wastewater and convert organics into soil amendments. Three revenue streams from one waste pipe.

The company raised $12M in Series B in November 2024, led by the family office of dermatologists Kathy Fields and Garry Rayant. TIME and Statista named them one of America's Top GreenTech Companies in 2026. They've treated over 2.5 billion liters and held over $9M in equipment sales since 2024.

Their first commercial installation was the NEMA apartment complex in downtown San Francisco. Buildings globally use 15% of the world's drinking water, yet almost none recycle it. Epic CleanTec's systems reduce water demand and utility fees by up to 95%. Co-founders Aaron and Igor Tartakovsky started with the premise that "there is no such thing as wastewater, only wasted water."

Turning toxic brine into lithium, copper, and fresh water with 90% less energy than thermal systems.

Founded: 2016 | HQ: Auckland, New Zealand | Funding: $25M across 5 rounds

AquaFortus built the world's most advanced zero-liquid-discharge technology for hypersaline wastewater. Their ABX™ System uses non-thermal crystallization to turn 98% of high-salinity brine into fresh water while extracting lithium, copper, and magnesium salts. It costs 60% less than thermal evaporation and uses 90% less energy.

The company raised $17M in Series A1 in February 2023, led by DCVC and Novo Holdings. They're building a relocatable demonstration unit for major US oil and gas basins. Industrial wastewater globally totals 380 billion m³ per year. About 25% is hypersaline, three times the volume of Lake Mead at peak.

AquaFortus operates where conventional membranes fail. They're targeting mining, oil and gas production, chemical manufacturing, and power generation. While competitors like thermal crystallizers remain too expensive for wide adoption, AquaFortus made mineral recovery profitable. Skip McGee, CEO of investor Intrepid Financial Partners, called it "game-changing for the energy industry."

Solar thermal desalination that harvests 4× more energy than PV panels and runs 24/7 off-grid.

Founded: 2014 | HQ: Maastricht, Netherlands | Funding: Undisclosed, 6 rounds

Desolenator uses solar thermal energy and industrial waste heat to desalinate water. No chemicals. No membranes. No brine discharge. Their modular units produce 1,000 m³ of fresh water daily and target a levelized cost under $1 per 1,000 liters.

The company delivered its flagship plant to Dubai Electricity and Water Authority in 2022 and a second plant to Silal in Al Ain, UAE, in 2024. They won a category prize at the Global Prize for Innovation in Desalination in October 2023. Silal's partnership with Desolenator helped land them on Forbes Middle East's Sustainability Leaders List.

Desolenator integrates zero-liquid-discharge technology to produce quality water and salt without toxic brine. Traditional desalination is energy-intensive and environmentally destructive. Desolenator's solar-first approach addresses both problems. CEO Adri Pols joined in June 2024 to lead the scale-up. The company is proving that renewable desalination can work at utility scale, not just in pilot projects.

Indian startup treating 2.5 billion liters of industrial wastewater in 90% less space than conventional plants.

Founded: 2018 | HQ: Mumbai, India | Funding: $4.28M across 2 rounds

Indra Water uses patented Electrox™ technology to treat industrial effluents and sewage. Their electrochemical oxidation and coagulation process removes heavy metals, suspended solids, phosphorus, fats, oils, grease, pathogens, and dissolved organics. Water recovery rates hit 99%. The system takes 90% less space than existing solutions.

The company raised $4M in Series A in February 2023, co-led by Emerald Technology Ventures and Mela Ventures. It was the first Indian investment for Swiss cleantech VC Emerald. Indra has treated over 2.5 billion liters of wastewater, eliminated 8,500+ tons of harmful chemicals, and reduced 10,000+ tons of sludge.

Customers include Aditya Birla Group and Unilever. The plug-and-play system delivers 35% lifecycle cost savings due to minimal chemicals and low sludge disposal. Indra won the MIF Indian Innovation Icons 2025 award in the business category. Co-founder Amrit Om Nayak said the company has "provided a billion liters of cleaner and safer water" while being "kinder to the environment."

Atmospheric water generators backed by Europe's leading bottled water company, Spadel.

Founded: 2021 | HQ: Paris, France | Funding: €3.1M Seed

Kumulus Water transforms air into drinking water using atmospheric water generators. Their Amphore model produces 20-30 liters per day on standard electricity or solar power. Air is pulled in, filtered, cooled until condensation, collected in a tank, and purified with remineralization.

The company raised €3.1M in June 2025, led by Bpifrance and including Spadel, one of Europe's largest bottled water companies. Spadel's Clément Yvorra said, "What convinced us is Kumulus' ability to produce water locally, without packaging or transportation, offering a truly sustainable alternative."

Kumulus has deployed units across schools, hotels, remote camps, and villages in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. They've provided clean water to 2,500+ people and enabled 50+ entrepreneurs through a microfranchising model. Each unit saves around 500kg of plastic and reduces around 2,000kg of CO₂ emissions per year. Founders Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid got the idea while camping in the Tunisian desert, watching dew form on their tent at dawn.

Subsea desalination pods at 400 meters depth, backed by century-old water infrastructure giant Kubota.

Founded: 2023 | HQ: Los Angeles, USA | Funding: $11M Series A

OceanWell deploys modular desalination pods 400 meters below the ocean surface. Natural hydrostatic pressure drives reverse osmosis, reducing energy consumption by 40% compared to traditional desalination. Each pod produces up to 1 million gallons of fresh water daily. A full water farm can deliver 58 million gallons per day.

The company raised $11M in November 2024 from Kubota Corporation, the family office of Jon Hemingway (Carrix Ports), and Charles McGarraugh (former Goldman Sachs metals trading head). Kubota's backing validates the technology. OceanWell is running a pilot with Las Virgenes Municipal Water District in California and has a working group of 25 California water agencies supporting the tech.

The US Navy lent OceanWell its simulation facility for testing. The company established European headquarters in Nice, France, with funding from the city's Business Landing program. They signed an MOU with Eau d'Azur in 2026 to advance subsea water farm development. OceanWell is planning 15 water farms globally. Traditional desalination requires massive industrial facilities on land. OceanWell eliminated that constraint entirely.

The smart money is flowing to energy-free or energy-light systems. Wave-powered, solar thermal, and subsea desalination eliminate the biggest cost in traditional plants. Industrial wastewater treatment is becoming a mineral extraction business, not just a compliance expense. AquaFortus turns toxic brine into lithium. That changes the economics completely.

Onsite building water recycling is the next frontier. Epic CleanTec proved that real estate developers will pay for systems that cut utility costs by 95%. The Middle East and Asia-Pacific will drive the most growth, but California's drought is creating a testbed for subsea and wave-powered systems that will scale globally.

What is the largest desalination market in 2026? The Middle East and Africa hold the largest market share at 50% in 2024 and will register the highest growth rate of 60%, driven by water scarcity in Saudi Arabia, UAE, and North Africa.

How much does desalination cost per gallon in 2026? Traditional reverse osmosis desalination costs $2-4 per 1,000 gallons. Wave-powered systems like Oneka and subsea systems like OceanWell target under $1 per 1,000 gallons by eliminating energy costs.

Which desalination technology is most energy-efficient? Reverse osmosis dominates with over 60% of installed capacity due to energy efficiency. New entrants like OceanWell's subsea pods reduce energy use by 40%, while Oneka's wave-powered systems use zero electricity.

What are the environmental concerns with desalination? Traditional desalination produces hypersaline brine that harms marine life. Zero-liquid-discharge systems like AquaFortus and Desolenator eliminate brine discharge by crystallizing salts and extracting minerals.

How fast is the desalination market growing? The global water desalination market will grow from $21.74 billion in 2024 to $58.38 billion by 2033, a compound annual growth rate of 11.6%, driven by climate change and urban water scarcity.

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