Co-Founder in Residence, Avoid water scarcity in industry (Open Application)

This is an open application for expressions of interest. Hiring for the role will begin later this year.

Join Us as a Founder in Residence in Climate

We're on the lookout for entrepreneurial individuals with technical and commercial domain expertise with keen interest in founding, and building a global scale, impact driven, high growth company from ground up (full-time).

We are seeking applications from experienced industry, startup and/or new science or engineering based technology development professionals from anywhere in the world to work with us avoiding water scarcity in industry.

You’ll work closely with the DSV team and the current Founder in Residence for this area to co-found and spin-out a new company. Once the new venture is incorporated with pre-seed investment from DSV, you and your co-founders will own the majority stake in the business and continue receiving support from the DSV team post-spinout.

The role is full-time and fully remote until venture incorporation and spin-out. 

The Opportunity

Water represents a key input for industry, whether for production purposes or as an ingredient. Today it represents up to 24% of total annual water demand, second to Agriculture. With growing population and economic activities, the demand for water is increasing also in industry while water availability is strained by pollution and climate change. With increasing extreme weather events, reliable water supply to industry is put at risk. For example, two-thirds of businesses experience substantial risk in direct operations or in their value chain related to water scarcity on a physical, regulatory, reputational, or stakeholder level.

Today, the majority of water is supplied via surface or groundwater, but in areas like Southern Europe, India, and Central America, these sources no longer represent a reliable water source throughout the whole year. Next to that, delivery of potable water is inhibited by high leakage rates and the majority of wastewater remains untreated on a global level.

Industrial players have spent a lot of effort to reduce their water consumption, and new technologies to desalinate seawater or source water from the atmosphere have been developed. Yet, for industry to meet the reliable supply of millions of litres of high-quality water per day at low cost is still difficult. For example, the latest atmospheric water capture technologies are in the range of thousands of litres per day, and desalination represents its own environmental burden by generating large amounts of brine. Sourcing water from wastewater or runoff represents public constraints and some contaminants are difficult to remove economically. Transporting water over long distances, e.g. from water-rich to water-scarce regions, represents major infrastructure and cost challenges.

Our Approach

Help us to find the best solution to the overarching question: How can we supply water at scale, at affordable costs, and without environmental damage?

Starting from established technologies, it may be possible to restore the reliability of groundwater and reservoirs by using directed precipitation capture or minimizing/monitoring evaporation. Separately, in some areas where brine has infiltrated groundwater, new inland-desalination processes could be adopted. Furthermore, solutions to address runoff—one of the largest and under-managed potential water sources in developing countries—using new technologies such as permeable concrete or rapid groundwater recharge could be deployed. New methods for extracting moisture from air have also made headway—including direct water from air harvesting and artificial cloud seeding. Together we will determine the optimal solution to this problem!

Who Should Apply

Most suitable candidates will likely meet multiple of the following criteria:

• PhD or equivalent industry R&D know-how focused on industrial water management, hydrology, environmental studies, or a relevant field;
• In-depth knowledge of state-of-the-art (SOTA) technologies and constraints in at least one of the following areas: thermodynamics, atmospheric dynamics, geochemistry, material science;
• Broad knowledge in water logistics and transportation infrastructure;
• Industry-specific know-how, commercial knowledge (e.g. strategic partnerships, manufacturing, procurement etc.) and network within the water management and related industries;
• Experience in building and scaling new technologies from concept to demonstration;
• Experience in raising funds from early stage investors/VC;
• Experience in building and scaling a high-growth enterprise (leadership/c-suite roles).

Our Offer

By joining DSV, you will be part of a team of operators who have founded companies and led the translation of science at some of the most respected universities, charities, funds, and government agencies. Here’s what we offer:

• Access to optimised, purpose-built, proprietary tools, resources, and processes to help create high-impact ventures from scratch;
• Opportunity area-specific know-how from our network of Partners and Advisors;
• Up to £250k in investment to incorporate the new venture and develop early proof-of-concept data;
• Guaranteed income of £4,166 per month paid as a consultancy fee until the company is launched and the pre-seed investment is secured;
• Majority equity stake in the new company for you and your co-founders;
• Continuous post-spinout support, including fundraising, commercial partnerships, recruitment, and team-building;
• Collaborative support from dozens of Founders currently at DSV across sectors.

About DSV

Deep Science Ventures (DSV) is on a mission to create a future in which both humans and the planet can thrive. We use our unique venture creation process to create, spin-out, and invest in science companies, combining available scientific knowledge and founder-type scientists into high-impact ventures. Operating in four sectors—Pharmaceuticals, Climate, Agriculture, and Computation—we tackle the challenges defining these areas by taking a first principles approach and partnering with leading institutions.