🏔️ Startup spotlight: Hydrominds 🏔️ Mountain water intelligence
💥 The challenge: Mountain regions are the “water towers” of the world, holding 70% of Earth’s freshwater supply as snow and ice. These frozen reserves are essential for the water, food, and energy security of billions of people downstream.
However, the shrinking cryosphere due to climate change is creating a dual crisis:
Water stress: Glacier and snowmelt disruption threatens water availability, projecting nearly half the global population to face high water stress by 2030.
Increased hazards: Disaster frequency has increased fivefold since 1970, with mountains facing more flash floods, landslides, and debris flows, leading to trillions in economic losses. The core problem is that data for mountain regions is scarce and highly uncertain, making robust, forward-looking decision-making impossible for the sectors that need it most.
✅ The solution: Hydrominds is building the HydroMind Engine—an on-demand, high-resolution modeling platform that delivers ultra-accurate hydrological information for any mountain range globally. The engine’s power comes from a hybrid approach: combining advanced physical glacio-hydrological modeling with cutting-edge AI technology.
👤 The Team: Over the past decade, the founders have built a strong track record, working with a broad spectrum of high-stakes stakeholders, including international financial institutions, UN agencies, governments, and major hydropower developers. Their deep knowledge base and hands-on experience ensure they understand both the science and the end-user’s operational needs.
🔸Arthur Lutz – Chief Executive Officer
🔸Sonu Khanal – Chief Executive Officer
🔸Walter Immerzeel – Chief Science Officer
🔸Philip Kraaijenbrink – Chief Technology Officer
❓ The core of your product is the HydroMind Engine. How did the team secure the initial data, computation resources, and/or necessary funding?
We are now developing the first prototype for the Mount Everest region based on the science our team members have done over the last years. With traditional methods it was impossible to produce the necessary hydrological data the required large scale and accuracy, but with our hybrid method those doors have opened. We are also getting a clearer picture of our clients needs. At the moment we are bootstrapping and get some income from consulting in similar topics on the side, but we are preparing proposals to obtain seed funding to boost the product development.
❓ Given that your team has a strong academic and policy background, what was the most significant organizational change required to shift from a science-focused mindset to a product-driven, commercially scalable startup mindset?
Coming from backgrounds in research and consulting, now being a startup is a completely different ball game. This is not about delivering scientific papers or reports, but starting from mapping the problems that organizations working in mountain regions face towards iteratively building the platform that provides their solution. It feels like a great adventure, we are supermotivated, and we look forward to this journey as a team!
