Amsterdam / Boston, August 24, 2026 — Momentum Global Ventures has invested in Hydris.AI as a seed investor.
The investment is made out of Momentum’s €100 million allocation to a transatlantic water and AI platform, and is the first of the platform’s dedicated positions in automated water treatment. Hydris.AI will disclose further details of the transaction shortly.
Hydris.AI builds the intelligence layer for water operations. It captures the expertise of seasoned operators and delivers real-time guidance so water and wastewater plants run smarter, safer and more efficiently. The company reports that guided, real-time insight can resolve plant issues up to 95% faster.
Hydris.AI was founded by Vetri Dhagumudi, who spent twenty years in water treatment and technology at Kimberly-Clark and at Nike, where he served as Global Nature Director. On leaving Nike to start Hydris.AI, Vetri wrote:
“We’ve spent decades digitizing water. Meters, sensors, automation, dashboards. We can measure almost everything now. But measurement isn’t understanding.
That comes from experience. From the operator who’s seen the same problem fifty times. That judgment may be the most valuable thing in the building, and too little of it is ever captured. When people move or retire, decades of it can walk out the door with them.
Meanwhile, the job is getting harder. Water is scarcer. Treatment is more complex. So the gap isn’t more data. We already have data. The gap is intelligence.
I don’t believe the future of water is just about measuring it better. It’s about making water intelligent.”
A transatlantic position
Hydris.AI is US-incorporated. Momentum Global Ventures brings European water-sector depth and relationships alongside its Amsterdam base. The relocation of Momentum’s deep tech platform to the United States, announced in March 2026, was described by partner Joost Oostveen as a direct result of increased investments in the US, with investments by its portfolio ventures there expected to reach $1 billion.
Momentum’s Water & AI investments
Capital has so far been allocated to six ventures that cover multiple directions within the same thesis. Examples are:
- Treatment chemistry. Catalysis technology, developed with a leading US university, that removes chemical and pharmaceutical contaminants from industrial and municipal water, and reduces the volume of chemicals needed in industrial production.
- Operating intelligence. AI-driven autonomous operation of water treatment plants, addressing a shortage of experienced operators that is set to worsen as a generation retires.
- Destruction at source. The permanent destruction such as PFAS and other harmful substances where they arise, rather than their capture, storage or relocation.
Momentum will disclose new investments in ventures individually in the near future.
