RIFT Raises €113.8 Million to Scale Iron Fuel Technology for Industrial Heat

Netherlands-based cleantech startup RIFT has raised €113.8 million (USD 132 million) through a Series B round and an EU Innovation Fund grant to scale its Iron Fuel Technology for decarbonizing industrial heat. The first commercial project is expected to become operational by 2029 and will deliver approximately 340 GWh of industrial heat annually.

Founded in 2020, RIFT provides Iron Fuel Technology, which burns iron powder in a boiler to generate heat without direct CO2 emissions and at ultra-low NOx levels, operating like a rechargeable battery for heat generation. The solution produces hot water, steam, or hot air at varying temperatures. The Series B raised USD 96.4 million, led by PGGM with participation from Invest-NL, Oost NL, Rubio Impact Ventures, BOM, and the Energietransitiefonds Rotterdam. The remaining USD 35.6 million came from the EU Innovation Fund for a related project. The new funding follows RIFT's USD 11.9 million Series A completed in October 2024.

Industrial process heat — used to transform materials into products such as metals and plastics — accounts for a large share of hard-to-abate emissions. Electrification, hydrogen, and renewable energy solutions exist but face deployment barriers including current grid limitations and intermittency. RIFT's iron fuel approach uses iron as a low-carbon energy carrier, offering grid-independent heat generation without carbon emissions. The technology's self-enclosed system, which outputs iron oxide after burning and can be regenerated, addresses the carbon sequestration challenge associated with hydrogen combustion while maintaining the energy density advantages of fuel-based systems.

The first commercial project is anticipated to deliver approximately 5 TWh of decarbonized heat and reduce CO2 emissions by more than one million tonnes over a 15-year lifespan. PGGM Investment Director Tim van den Brule noted that the financing structure was designed to provide capital through to execution, explicitly addressing the well-known challenge of innovative industrial technologies stalling in the transition from demonstration to commercial scale. For India, where industrial heat decarbonization is critical to achieving net-zero targets in sectors such as steel, cement, chemicals, and textiles, RIFT's iron fuel model represents an emerging technology pathway worth monitoring as it moves toward commercial validation in Europe.

Key figure — €113.8 million (USD 132 million) total funding