DHV
DHV is the Dutch engineering and consultancy firm, founded in 1917 and now part of Haskoning, that backs digital-water startups as a strategic corporate investor. Instead of running a venture fund, it takes minority stakes in data and analytics companies that sharpen its own water and flood work. As of 2026 it has backed two water companies, leading both rounds.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
DHV is not a venture fund, and that is the first thing a newcomer should understand about it. It is a Dutch engineering and consultancy firm that traces back to 1917, today part of Haskoning, the group that until May 2025 carried the longer name Royal HaskoningDHV. When a firm like this takes a stake in a startup, it is buying capability for its own water and flood-resilience practice, not chasing a financial exit.
DHV's water bets share one signature: data, not concrete. In 2018 it took a minority shareholding in HAL24K, a data-intelligence scale-up whose cloud analytics platform it folded into its own engineering work, and it backed the Hydroinformatics Institute, a Singapore modelling specialist, to grow data-driven flood-resilience services. For a company whose day job is designing physical water infrastructure, the investments lean pointedly toward the software and sensing layer sitting on top of it.
As of 2026, DHV's successor Haskoning has formalised that instinct into the Haskoning Innovation and Education Fund, announced in September 2025, which gifts 12.5 percent of the group's annual net profit to research and education with no requirement for a financial return. Its opening focus is water technology and climate resilience, and its first partner is Delft University of Technology. It is a telling way for a firm this old to keep betting on water: less a portfolio, more a standing commitment.
Water Commitment Score
Compiled from official filings, third-party records, and direct intelligence from investors and founders, in Leviathan · recomputed monthly · as of Jun 2026.
How they invest
Portfolio · 2 water companies
Frequently asked
- What does DHV invest in?
- DHV, the Dutch engineering firm now part of Haskoning, is a strategic corporate investor in digital water. It takes minority stakes in data, analytics and modelling companies whose technology strengthens its own water and flood-resilience consulting, rather than running a returns-driven venture fund. This is the engineering firm, not DHV Technology, the unrelated Spanish solar company.
- Is DHV a venture capital fund?
- No. DHV is a strategic corporate investor, not a venture capital fund. As a global engineering and consultancy firm, now branded Haskoning, it invests to acquire technology and capability for its own water and infrastructure practice, taking minority stakes rather than chasing financial exits. It has backed two water companies, leading both.
- What water companies has DHV backed?
- DHV has backed two water companies. In 2018 it took a minority shareholding in HAL24K, a data-intelligence scale-up whose cloud platform reads live data from sensors and industrial control systems, and it invested in the Hydroinformatics Institute, a Singapore specialist in cloud hydrodynamic modelling and remote sensing for flood resilience.
- Who runs DHV?
- DHV operates today as Haskoning, the name Royal HaskoningDHV adopted in May 2025, and is led by chief executive Marije Hulshof. The firm is a partly employee-owned engineering and consultancy group headquartered in Amersfoort, the Netherlands, with roots stretching back to DHV's founding in 1917.
- What is the Haskoning Innovation and Education Fund?
- Announced in September 2025, the Haskoning Innovation and Education Fund gifts 12.5 percent of the group's annual net profit to research, innovation and education, with no requirement for a financial return. Its first focus is water technology and climate resilience, starting with a partnership with Delft University of Technology.