LUMO Labs
LUMO Labs is a Dutch impact-driven venture capital firm and venture builder based in Eindhoven. Founded in 2016, it backs pre-seed to Series A startups using emerging tech like AI, data and IoT to push the UN Sustainable Development Goals. (don't) Waste Water tracks one water bet: leak-detection startup HULO.ai.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
LUMO Labs started in Eindhoven in 2016, when Andy Lürling and Sven Bakkes set out to build what local press nicknamed a 'Y Combinator for good': a fund that hands young founders not just a cheque but a structured two-year coaching program. The base is no accident. Eindhoven's Brainport region is the Dutch high-tech heartland, the place Philips grew out of, and LUMO Labs planted itself in the middle of that talent pool, later adding a Los Angeles outpost in Silicon Beach.
LUMO Labs is an impact investor first and a technology investor second, and the order matters. It backs pre-seed to Series A teams that use emerging digital tools, AI, data, blockchain, IoT and extended reality, to move four UN Sustainable Development Goals: sustainable cities, health and well-being, quality education, and climate action. 'Impact-driven' is the load-bearing word here, not marketing dressing: a startup has to show it moves one of those goals to get in the door, and LUMO acts as a venture builder, not just a passive backer.
As of 2024, LUMO Labs is investing from its €100 million LUMO Rise Fund, its second fund, aimed at roughly 34 to 35 European impact startups over four to five years. That fund came with a map: LUMO Labs pushed beyond the Netherlands into the Nordics and Baltics, where Linn-Cecilie Linnemann runs the practice from Oslo, and into Spain and Portugal, run by Jorge Blasco out of Barcelona. The thesis is pan-European now, not just Dutch.
LUMO Labs treats water as a narrow slice of its climate work, not a focus. Of everything LUMO Labs has funded, the one company (don't) Waste Water tracks is HULO.ai, a leak-detection startup whose cloud platform uses AI to find losses in drinking-water networks, backed at the seed end across two early rounds. LUMO Labs wrote those cheques alongside the Dutch water-tech investor NEW (Netherlands Enabling Water Technology) and VP Capital. For a water founder, LUMO Labs is not a water specialist, but it is a credible European impact door if your technology carries a clear climate or smart-city story.
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 · 1 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does LUMO Labs invest in?
- LUMO Labs invests in pre-seed to Series A startups using emerging digital technologies, AI, data, blockchain, IoT and extended reality, to advance four UN Sustainable Development Goals: sustainable cities, health and well-being, quality education, and climate action. It is an impact-first generalist, not a water fund.
- Is LUMO Labs a water investor?
- Not specifically. LUMO Labs is a broad impact and climate-tech investor; water is a thin slice of its work. The one water company (don't) Waste Water tracks in its portfolio is HULO.ai, a startup whose AI platform detects leaks in drinking-water networks, backed at the seed stage.
- Who runs LUMO Labs?
- LUMO Labs was founded in 2016 by Andy Lürling and Sven Bakkes, who remain founding partners. The team includes senior partner Dagmar van Ravenswaay Claasen, Linn-Cecilie Linnemann leading the Nordics and Baltics from Oslo, and Jorge Blasco leading Spain and Portugal from Barcelona.
- Where is LUMO Labs based?
- LUMO Labs is based in Eindhoven, in the Netherlands' Brainport high-tech region, with a second office in Los Angeles. Since launching its €100 million LUMO Rise Fund in 2024, it also runs regional practices in the Nordics and Baltics and in Spain and Portugal.
- What is the LUMO Rise Fund?
- The LUMO Rise Fund is LUMO Labs' €100 million second fund, launched in 2024 to back roughly 34 to 35 early-stage European impact startups over four to five years. It funds emerging-tech companies across the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, the Nordics, the Baltics, Spain and Portugal.