PRE-SEED · BUILDING IN PUBLIC · 2026

Water from air.
Anywhere, Anytime.

A backpack-scale atmospheric water generator in development. ML-optimized heat exchangers are designed to target 1–2 liters of clean drinking water per day from ambient air. Target pack weight under 2 lb; designed to run from a high-capacity USB-C power bank. Backpack-portable form factor—prototype validation in progress.

2.2B
People without safe water
$3.3B
Atmospheric water market
0
Backpack-scale AWG products
The Crisis

A weight no one
should have to carry.

Water is the heaviest, most critical resource humans transport. From thru-hikers on the Appalachian Trail to communities in the Sahel, the same problem persists: clean water is locked behind logistics, infrastructure, and weight.

2.2B
Lack safely managed drinking water
Globally, 2.2 billion people don't have access to safely managed drinking water. The crisis is accelerating, not improving.
4B
Face severe scarcity
4 billion people experience severe water scarcity at least one month per year. Climate change is making this worse.
71%
Aquifers in decline
71% of monitored aquifers worldwide are in decline. Traditional infrastructure cannot keep up with demand.

"The hiker still runs out. The ranger still turns back. The community still walks. The solution shouldn't require finding water — it should generate it."

Water is everywhere — 13 trillion tons of it suspended in the air around us — and we've been looking in the wrong place.

The Product

Backpack-mounted
atmospheric water generator.

NanoStorm is a backpack-scale atmospheric water generator in development—integrated where you carry your gear. Target: under 2 lb total weight; USB-C power-bank-powered (~50 W) system design—external power-bank architecture, compatible with common sub-100Wh USB-C power banks (airline policies on lithium packs vary). Designed to supplement carried water on the trail and in remote work—field validation and pilots before scale.

v0.1 · ConceptNSF P231 PATHWAY
2 LB

Under 2 pounds

Target: complete system under 2 lb—designed to reduce how much drinking water you must pack versus carrying a full day’s supply; subject to field validation.

1–2L

Daily output

Designed to produce 1–2 liters of drinking water per day from ambient humidity. Current bench prototype: 0.3 L/day; ML-optimized heat exchanger validation in progress.

50W

Power-bank powered

Target ~50 W system draw vs. typical home AWG units. Designed to run from a high-capacity USB-C power bank; runtime depends on power-bank capacity, humidity, temperature, airflow, and duty cycle. Validation in progress.

NSF

4-stage filtration

4-stage filtration designed to NSF/ANSI P231 protocol. Targeting 6-log bacteria, 4-log virus, and 3-log protozoa reduction per the EPA Guide Standard. Mineralized for taste.

40–95

Designed for varied humidity conditions

Engineered for 40–95% relative humidity as a design band. Field validation testing planned starting Q4 2026 across diverse climate conditions.

The Technology

AI-designed
heat exchangers.

We are running hundreds of computational fluid dynamics simulations across generated geometries and training machine learning models to design heat exchanger geometries no human engineer could draft by hand.

01
Air Intake
Optimized airflow draws humid ambient air into the system
02
ML-Optimized Heat Exchanger
Machine-learning optimized heat exchanger condenses moisture using low-power cooling
03
4-Stage Filtration
Bacteria, viruses, heavy metals, and contaminants removed
04
Mineralization
Clean, great-tasting water ready to drink
Condensation Core

Machine-learning optimized heat exchanger

Our design workflow uses CFD simulation and machine-learning optimization to improve airflow, condensation surface area, thermal transfer, and energy use inside a compact portable system. Hardware validation milestone: Q3 2026.

CFD-GuidedML-OptimizedPatent in Preparation
The Market

A category
we're creating.

Atmospheric water generation is a proven $2.8–3.3B industry growing at 9–14% annually, with leading analysts projecting it to reach $5–13B by the early 2030s. Commercial AWG today is largely stationary, heavy, and grid-tethered. We're targeting portable, USB-C power-bank-powered AWG at backpack scale—not another building-sized unit.

Watergen
Industrial · Grid-powered
Output22–10,000 L
WeightStationary
Power2–60 kW
Price$7K–$100K+
EcoloBlue
Home · Plug-in
Output8–30 L
Weight70 lbs
Power350 W grid
Price$1,300+
CATEGORY CREATOR
NanoStorm
Portable · Power-Bank Powered
Output1–2 L/day (target)
WeightUnder 2 lb (target)
Power~50 W via USB-C power bank
Price$499
"Watergen proved AWG works for buildings. We're targeting backpack-scale AWG designed around external power banks. The physics is understood; our job is execution and validation. The market is moving. The category is wide open."
Who It's For

Start with water weight.
Scale to water resilience.

We're starting with users who already feel water as a hard constraint: thru-hikers carrying liters between sources, SAR and field teams operating away from resupply, and defense/emergency teams where water logistics shape the mission. Outdoor users give us the fastest path to paid feedback; institutional pilots prove the rugged use cases.

PRIMARY BEACHHEAD

The Thru-Hiker

"Every liter of water is 2.2 lb on my back. If I can reliably make water on trail, I can carry less, move farther, and worry less between sources."
181M+ U.S. outdoor participants
Fast D2C validation

Pays for lighter, mission-critical gear
INSTITUTIONAL PILOT

SAR & Field Teams

"On long searches, patrols, and remote fieldwork, water is both a safety requirement and a logistics constraint."
100K+ U.S. rescues/year
Rangers SAR · field scientists

Supplemental water for remote ops
HIGH-VALUE PATH

Defense & Emergency

"Water resupply is expensive, heavy, and operationally limiting. Small teams need point-of-need water where logistics are fragile."
DoD funded problem area
DARPA AWE / AWE+ relevance

Rugged pilot path after validation
Outdoor beta first, then field-hardened pilots
Y1
Paid Outdoor Beta
D2C · guides · thru-hikers
Y2–3
Field Pilots
SAR · rangers · research teams
Y4+
Rugged Institutional
Emergency · defense · humanitarian

Carry less
water.

Join the early list for prototype updates, field-test opportunities, and first access when NanoStorm is ready for outdoor beta users.

Building in public · Hardware validation Q3 2026 · Field testing Q4 2026