At ClimateHaven, our mission is to help startups turn promising ideas into real-world solutions. Building on the momentum of our first inaugural challenge, the Water Innovation Hub is taking another big step forward: we’re partnering with Xylem, one of the world’s leading water technology companies, to accelerate the commercialization of breakthrough solutions that can transform how we manage and protect water systems.
Xylem Innovation Labs is already a robust platform for supporting early-stage founders. Its programs provide startups with access to technical resources, mentorship, advanced prototyping facilities, and opportunities to collaborate on disruptive technologies that can shape the future of water and wastewater management. By partnering with the Hub, Xylem is expanding these existing resources to help cover the full pathway to commercialization—combining corporate technical expertise and business insight with the Hub’s ability to deliver real-world validation through pilots and utility engagement.
This type of collaboration is essential because water tech startups face unique barriers. Securing pilots, gaining access to operational infrastructure, and understanding the pain points of large utilities or corporates are often out of reach. The Water Innovation Hub exists to close that gap. By pairing the validation opportunities of municipal partners like the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority (RWA) with the corporate perspective and global reach of Xylem, the Hub is uplifting startup perspectives and enabling them to achieve the kind of technical and business validation that unlocks scale.
With Xylem now joining RWA as a cornerstone partner, the Hub connects the full innovation pipeline: from piloting with utilities to scaling with global corporations. Xylem brings unmatched technical expertise, industry leadership, and access to global markets, offering startups a pathway to move from early testing to widespread adoption. At the same time, Xylem gains visibility into emerging solutions and opportunities to collaborate directly with our ecosystem of advisors, investors, and public-sector stakeholders.
As Xylem’s Director of Innovation Strategy and Venture Capital, Max Storto, shared, “Our partnership with ClimateHaven expands the ways we can work with entrepreneurs, utilities, and partners to advance solutions from concept to real-world impact.”
For us at ClimateHaven, this partnership validates the vision behind the Water Innovation Hub: that meaningful innovation requires collaboration across the full spectrum of stakeholders. Municipal partners like RWA create the space for technologies to be tested in real operations. Corporate partners like Xylem provide the reach and expertise to bring those solutions to scale. And startups bring the ingenuity to develop the tools our water systems so urgently need.
As our President Ryan Dings put it: “Together, we’re ensuring that groundbreaking solutions can be piloted, validated, and ultimately scaled to address urgent challenges in water quality, resilience, and sustainability.”
With both RWA and Xylem on board, New Haven and Connecticut are emerging as a center for water innovation. The Hub is not just supporting startups—it’s shaping the future of water resilience locally and globally.
