Why We Are Different
From vineyards to rural industry, we deliver electric desalination that is capable, affordable and simple.
Fits Your Budget
Priced like common ag and industrial tools — not $100K+. Compact enough to install anywhere.
Use the Water You Already Have
Brackish water isn't just coastal — it's underground and in wastewater. We make it usable.
Works Where Big Desal Doesn't
Rural, inland or off-grid - if you've got salt, this works.
Simple to Run, Easy to Fix
Built for self-service - no specialists, no downtime.
Not Iteration. Invention.
The first product of its kind in water — built for the field, not the lab.
Waste That Works for You
Turn salt into inputs. Cut disposal costs. Add value to every gallon.
Our Approach
Master Plan
Turn inland brackish water and wastewater into usable supply for agriculture, industry, and communities.
Transform salty waste into valuable industrial materials, cutting costs and improving water treatment economics.
Deploy modular, electrified systems that clean water in motion, recharge aquifers, and bring scalable access to water-stressed regions.
Where We Are Today
Lab cell prototypes hit stage required to allow scale up
Reliability testing of multi-cell unit underway for 24/7 operation
Pilot in progress with Central-Coast winery
Friends-and-Family round open to fund larger pilots, manufacturing ramp
Customer Pilot Unit
Technical specifications and performance data available on request
Our Team
We hire great people who want to work on things that matter
Derek Bednarski
Founder & CEO
Derek Bednarski, Founder and CEO, leads Waterline's product strategy and oversees materials and control systems. He developed our initial prototypes, drove the 2X advancement in electrode materials, and engineered our automated rig, boosting testing throughput by 4X. Previously at Tesla, Derek leveraged operational expertise and applied machine learning to automate diagnostics and scheduling, saving over 300,000 service hours quarterly. He co-invented a patented automation system, significantly improving customer experience and operational efficiency. Derek excels at applying first-principles thinking to tackle tough problems, a skill sharpened by his philosophy major at Tulane and hands-on training at Tesla.
Eddie Brucculeri
Co-Founder & CFO
Eddie Brucculeri joined Waterline as Co-Founder and CFO in April 2025. At P97 Networks, where he served as Head of Finance, Eddie helped scale revenue five-fold, secured a $40 million venture-debt facility and a $40 million Series C round, and played a key role in the company's acquisition by PDI Technologies. His background in investment banking at Deutsche Bank and hedge fund analysis at Aetos Alternatives brings rigorous financial discipline and strategic clarity to Waterline. Eddie oversees our finance, sales, and business development strategies, helping steer the company's growth into our upcoming funding rounds and beyond.
Matthew Gao
Mechanical Engineering Lead
Matthew Gao joined Waterline in January 2025 as our Mechanical Engineering Lead. Matt brings deep experience in designing for manufacturing at scale from his work at Tesla (Seating & Safety Systems) and Koniku – a biotech startup where he built precision systems for bio-mechanical sensing devices. His hands-on role at Tesla, balancing high-volume production needs with complex mechanical constraints, makes him perfectly suited to tackle Waterline's critical electrode retention challenges. Matt's innovative designs are already responsible for our recent 3.7X cell performance improvement, and he's currently leading construction of our pilot unit.
Alex Peng
Machine Learning Lead
Alex Peng joined Waterline in September 2025 as our Machine Learning Lead. At Tesla, Alex oversaw data science for an automation product that saves hundreds of thousands of employee hours annually, and led strategy for consumer generative AI assistants - scaling to 120k weekly sessions with 80k unique users in 12 markets. Alex holds degrees in math, computer science, and industrial engineering with a focus on optimization, simulation, and prediction. Alex previously founded a digital services company in China supporting suppliers and startups. At Waterline, she leads our ML, controls, and software vertical to enhance electrical deionization technology.
Jordan Goldbloom
Battery Engineer
Jordan joined Waterline in summer 2025 to lead development of our battery management system, circuit design, and sensing architecture. She currently studies mechatronics at the University of Waterloo and will join us full time in 2026. She is currently leading a brine valorization Capstone which aims to build the foundation of Waterline's Master Plan step 2. She previously interned at Tesla and Ample, where she built custom PCBs, embedded systems, and automated tools for high-voltage battery testing and diagnostics.
Lauren Greenlee, Ph.D.
Board of Directors
Lauren Greenlee joined Waterline's Board in July 2025. She is EVP of Food + Water + Waste at XPRIZE, where she leads global initiatives to solve water scarcity and food abundance. Previously, Lauren was CTO at sHYp, advancing seawater-to-hydrogen technology from lab scale to pilot. She also co-founded CatalyzeH2O and held technical leadership roles at NIST and in academia. With a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from UT Austin, Lauren brings deep expertise in electrochemical water treatment and a track record of scaling innovation.
Strategic Advisors
Lou Brucculeri
Intellectual Property, Legal
- -General Counsel, West Technology Group (Apollo-backed)
- -Led IP at Compaq & AltaVista (Zip2 era)
- -Founder of acquired IP boutique (clients incl. Apple, Intel); court-appointed Technical Advisor
Anisha Singh, Ph. D.
Material Science, Physical Modeling, Government Relations
- -Applied Physics, Stanford
- -Experimental condensed-matter focus: charge-density-wave materials
- -Federal experience in energy & water policy/appropriations
- -Battery modeling and design experience
Ajay Virkar, Ph.D.
Strategy, Materials, Capital Raising
- -Chemical Engineering, Stanford
- -Co-founder, CTO of C3Nano (acquired by DuPont)
- -Secured 120+ patents, raised $75M+ in funding, commercialized materials for foldable devices, OLEDs