JPMorgan Chase & Co. and The Water Council have entered into a partnership to bring together North America’s investment community and water technology entrepreneurs to match capital with water innovation. The partnership includes a $225,000 grant from JPMorgan Chase as part of the company’s recently launched Small Business Forward initiative—a national, five-year, $30 million grant program meant to boost small business support networks that help growing enterprises in specific industries. With the grant, The Water Council will identify investment firms that are interested in exploring water technology investments, prepare water investment training information and conduct an investor conference with entrepreneurs.
“Our company recognizes the growing importance of water not only in the United States, but across the world, and we believe that many of the solutions to those issues will be derived from the small businesses that are being developed by The Water Council,” said James R. Popp, president of Chase in Wisconsin. “It was only natural for Chase to combine its support for American small businesses with America’s leading water technology cluster.”