Dutch Startup Raises Capital to Extract Critical Battery Metals from Industrial Waste
IJmuiden, Sunday, 25 October 2026.
With Europe importing 95% of its vanadium, Phoenix Metals secured €4 million to build a pilot facility recovering essential energy-storage materials from 500 metric tons of annual steel waste.
Scaling Urban Mining in IJmuiden
Circular metallurgy startup Phoenix Metals has secured a €4 million seed funding round to finance the construction of an industrial pilot plant in IJmuiden [1][2]. The investment syndicate includes regional development agency ROM InWest, InnovationQuarter, and Mossinkoff Investments [2][3]. The planned facility will process approximately 500 metric tons of industrial waste annually, allowing the deep-tech firm to validate process reliability, product quality, and material flows directly on an industrial scale [1][2]. Co-founders Gijsbert Bakker, who serves as Chief Executive Officer, and Stijn van Zelst, the Chief Operating Officer, established Phoenix Metals in 2020 to recover critical raw materials from complex waste streams [1][2].
Unlocking Value from Heavy Industrial By-Products
Rather than relying on primary extraction from virgin mining, Phoenix Metals uses low-temperature hydrometallurgical processes to capture critical elements from industrial residues such as refinery residue, maritime waste, and steel slag [1]. In 2023, the startup sharpened its strategic focus toward slag generated by Tata Steel Nederland, which produces roughly 650,000 metric tons of steel slag each year [2]. At the planned initial processing volume of 500 metric tons per year, the pilot facility is set to handle a fraction of this stream—specifically 0.077% of Tata Steel Nederland’s annual slag output [2]. While conventional recycling techniques typically isolate a single high-value metal, Phoenix Metals’ process is engineered to valorize the full material stream, extracting vanadium, iron, manganese, magnesium, calcium-based products, and reusable mineral fractions [1].
Strengthening Strategic Autonomy and the Green Transition
The push to scale up hydrometallurgical recycling comes at a critical time for European supply chains, as Europe currently imports 95% of its vanadium demand [1]. Vanadium is an indispensable input for vanadium redox flow batteries, an energy storage technology deployed across industrial clusters, renewable energy installations, electrical grid networks, and data centers [1]. Commercializing secondary recovery within Europe provides an alternative supply avenue, addressing industrial waste accumulation while mitigating external supply vulnerability [1][2]. Beyond the €4 million private equity injection, Phoenix Metals has raised more than €5 million in public grants, backed by the European Just Transition Fund, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), Kansen voor West, and the provinces of Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland [1].
The Commercial Roadmap Toward 2031
Having moved past preliminary demonstrator runs that produced customer test samples, the company intends to use its IJmuiden pilot to demonstrate bankable scalability [2][3]. Operational leadership highlighted that the capital injection facilitates a transition from lab-scale technology development to actual manufacturing [2]. Looking ahead, Phoenix Metals aims to lay the groundwork at the IJmuiden site to progress from this pilot operation toward full-scale commercial manufacturing targeted for 2031 [2]. As heavy industries encounter rising pressure to curtail environmental footprints and secure domestic critical raw materials, closing the loop on residual slag presents a scalable circular model for the European transition [1][2].