Dutch Startup Raises €114 Million to Replace Natural Gas with Iron Fuel

2026-03-03 green

Netherlands, Tuesday, 3 March 2026.
RIFT’s groundbreaking iron fuel technology could revolutionize industrial heating by eliminating over one million tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually while delivering 340 GWh of clean energy.

Major Funding Round Accelerates Commercial Deployment

The Eindhoven-based energy storage company RIFT secured €113.8 million in total funding on March 2, 2026, marking a pivotal moment for industrial decarbonization [1][6]. The financing package consists of an €83.1 million Series B round led by Dutch pension fund investor PGGM, with participation from Invest-NL, the Dutch national investment institution, and regional development agency Oost NL [1][6]. Existing investors Rubio Impact Ventures, Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschappij (BOM), and the Energietransitiefonds Rotterdam also joined the round [1]. Additionally, RIFT was selected by the EU Innovation Fund for a €30.7 million grant, chosen from only 61 projects out of 359 applications [1][6]. This represents exceptional funding for a hardware cleantech company at RIFT’s development stage, demonstrating strong investor confidence in the iron fuel technology’s commercial viability [2].

Revolutionary Iron Fuel Technology Targets Industrial Heat Challenge

RIFT’s breakthrough innovation addresses one of the energy transition’s most stubborn challenges: decarbonizing industrial heat processes that currently rely heavily on fossil fuels [5]. Industries such as food processing, chemicals, and building materials require continuous high-temperature heat for their production processes, with this heat largely generated using natural gas today [5]. Electric alternatives often prove inadequate due to required high temperatures, large power demands, and limited grid capacity, making a scalable, CO₂-free alternative essential for further industrial decarbonization [5]. RIFT’s solution uses iron as a circular energy carrier, replacing fossil natural gas in industrial heat processes to enable high-temperature heat without CO₂ emissions [1][5]. The technology has been demonstrated to work reliably in industrial environments over the past years, according to CEO Mark Verhagen [1].

First Commercial Project Set for 2029 Operations

The funding will enable RIFT to develop its first commercial production facility to supply iron fuel to industrial customers [1]. The company signed its first commercial contract in mid-2025 with Kingspan Unidek and aims to be operational by 2029 [1][6]. The inaugural project is expected to deliver approximately 340 GWh of industrial heat annually, totaling roughly 5 TWh of decarbonized heat over a 15-year lifetime [1][2][5]. This ambitious scale translates to avoiding more than one million tonnes of CO₂ emissions over the project’s operational period [1][2][5]. ‘We are now shifting our focus to the preparation and execution of our first commercial project - taking a concrete step toward large-scale decarbonization of industrial heat,’ said CEO Mark Verhagen [5].

Strategic Investor Backing and Market Positioning

The investment consortium reflects the strategic importance of RIFT’s technology, combining pension capital, national and regional development agencies, and impact investors [8]. PGGM, which manages over €240 billion in long-term pension capital, led the Series B round through its infrastructure investment division [1]. Tim van den Brule, Investment Director at PGGM Infrastructure, emphasized the deliberate financing structure: ‘We have deliberately chosen a financing structure that provides capital through to execution, enabling the first commercial project to move into operation’ [1]. Invest-NL committed €19.6 million supported by the InvestEU program, building on their earlier Series A investment in 2024 [7][8]. Founded in 2020 by Mark Verhagen, Vincent Seijger, and Lex Scheepers, RIFT now employs approximately 75 people and has positioned the Netherlands as a leader in next-generation energy storage technologies [1][6].

Bronnen

energy storage iron fuel