Italian impact fund makes first investment from new €500m vehicle

In January, one of Europe’s largest sustainability-focused private equity firms, Ambienta, closed a €500m fund designed to back impact SMEs across the continent.

Several pension funds invested in the new vehicle, including Dutch pension giant APG, Italian doctors' pension fund Fondazione ENPAM, the UK Environment Agency Pension Fund, and VER, Finland's state pension fund.

And now, Ambienta has announced its first investment from the new fund: Pieco, an Italian industrial water recycling firm which has drawn significant attention from blue-chip manufacturers.

"Industrial water treatment is on a structural growth trajectory," says Giacomo Forti, a partner at Ambienta. "Pieco stands out as a rare pure player combining highly advanced technology with a proven track record."

Ambienta becomes majority owner

Under the deal, Ambienta has taken a majority stake in Pieco, while the founding Medolago family will retain a stake and remain involved in management, a structure common in Italian family business acquisitions.

"Industrial water treatment is on a structural growth trajectory," said Giacomo Forti, a partner at Ambienta. "Pieco stands out as a rare pure player combining highly advanced technology with a proven track record.”

Founded in 1996 near Bergamo, Pieco has developed a proprietary ultrafiltration process that it says recovers up to 85% of industrial wastewater – more than double the roughly 40% recovery rate typical of conventional chemical treatment systems.

Pieco, which employs a membrane-based purification process alongside its ultrafiltration technology, targets customers in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and food processing – sectors where water quality standards are particularly stringent and where the cost of supply disruption is high.

The company generates over 80% of revenues internationally, serving manufacturers who face mounting regulatory pressure to cut freshwater consumption and reduce discharge.

Water as a strategic investment

The investment comes as water scarcity climbs the agenda for both governments and corporate risk managers.

The World Resources Institute estimates that roughly $15 trillion of global GDP is exposed to high water stress, and the share of land affected by drought has grown by around 10% over the past century. Despite that pressure, less than 2% of water withdrawn globally is currently recycled.

Venture capital investment in water technology is typically more of a trickle than a flood, but that’s slowly changing. In 2025, over $1bn of equity was poured into water tech, up 20% from the year previous.

“The water sector is a growing market,” an Ambienta spokesperson told Impact Loop via email. “Which is driven by fundamental and sustainability-linked trends like water scarcity, and the increase in extreme weather conditions driving the need for investment.”