The Dutch government supports water technology companies in their international expansion. One of the countries it has invested in over the past few years is Italy — a logical choice, as Italy is the EU’s third-largest economy after Germany and France. The Italian market offers opportunities for Dutch water-tech companies, not only in industrial water treatment but also in preventing leakage in pipelines operated by both industry and public authorities. On the occasion of Ecomondo, Italy’s trade fair for green and circular economies, we spoke with Dutch entrepreneurs who have joined forces to gain a foothold in the ‘boot’ of Europe.
“Italy is a promising market for us,” explained Ritse Klink. With his extensive international experience in business development, he was appointed Head of Sales at the software company HULO this summer — a role that, he says, fits him perfectly. “In B2B, you always analyse: where is the biggest pain point? We know that worldwide, thirty per cent of clean drinking water is lost due to leakage. And Italy, together with the UK, Spain and France, is one of the countries where this problem is especially acute. Early detection is crucial. HULO offers a solution for that: we combine physical modelling with AI to detect and locate leaks quickly.”
Local partners
A key priority for HULO is finding local partners in the countries they aim to enter, Klink said. It’s an approach that many other Dutch water-technology companies have positive experiences with, supported by government initiatives such as WTEX10 and Partners for International Business (PIB). “The presence of potential local partners is another reason why Italy is particularly interesting to us,” Klink noted. “The Italians are generally very open to collaboration. That creates an opportunity for our software, which can seamlessly integrate with existing detection systems. We are therefore looking for local partners such as network operators or suppliers of sensor technology — parties that are interested in offering our predictive models as an additional service to their existing customers.”
Rocky Mountains
Klink previously co-founded the software company Beezy, which was sold to Appspace in 2021. Afterwards, he took a sabbatical, during which he cycled with a group of friends from Canada across the Rocky Mountains to Mexico. “A fantastic adventure through beautiful landscapes — but also a good moment to reflect on what I wanted to do next. I’ve always left the actual software development to experts, but the potential of software and AI to make the world a little better really speaks to me. I find it motivating to bring that across borders. That’s also why programmes like WTEX10 and especially PIB appeal to me.”
Editor’s note: In October 2025, it was announced that HULO had raised €2.3 million in investment. The round, led by VP Capital and LUMO Labs with participation from Rabobank, Vanagon and others, is intended to accelerate the global rollout of HULO’s AI platform.
This article is part of ‘Tapping into Italy: Dutch watertech making waves’, a series of short stories featuring several Dutch water technology companies in the Watertech2Italy cluster. Through the Partners for International Business (PIB) programme, and supported by Water Alliance and the Netherlands Consulate in Milan, these companies are working to establish a foothold in the Italian market.
