Dutch pension asset manager PGGM, on behalf of PFZW, has joined a group of investors committing to the latest financing round of Dutch energy start up RIFT.

This is PGGM’s second commitment to RIFT, an Eindhoven-based technology scale-up that develops iron fuel technology for the sustainability of industrial heat.

RIFT has raised €113.8m for the commercial rollout of its technology. The funding includes a €83.1m Series B round led by PGGM, with participation from Invest-NL, Oost NL, Rubio, Energy Transition Fund Rotterdam, and Brabant Development Agency (BOM) – all of whom participated last time.

In addition to the consortium investment, RIFT was also selected by the EU Innovation Fund for a €30.7m grant project.

This round of investor funding is "exceptionally large" for a hardware and cleantech company at this stage and enables the transition from industrial pilots to commercial realisation of the world's first commercial iron fuel project.

Commenting, PGGM Infrastructure investment director, Tim van den Brule, said: "As a consortium, we have closely followed the development of RIFT and see strong potential for tangible industrial impact.

“Many industrial innovations get stuck in the transition from demonstration to realisation. We have deliberately opted for a financing structure that makes capital available up to and including execution, so that the first commercial project can actually become operational."

PGGM said that the inclusion of this technology in the EU Innovation Fund, the European funding programme for large-scale innovative decarbonisation projects, highlights its importance, as in this round, only 61 projects were selected from 359 applications.

With this round of funding, RIFT will construct its first commercial production facility, which will supply iron fuel to multiple industrial customers who integrate Iron Fuel Boilers into their existing heating processes.

The first commercial customer contract was signed with Kingspan Unidek in mid-2025, and the ambition is to be operational by 2029.

The project is expected to supply approximately 340 GWh of industrial heat per year. Over a period of 15 years, this equates to approximately five TWh of sustainable heat, resulting in a total of more than one million tonnes of avoidable CO2 emissions.

"In recent years, we have shown that iron fuel technology works in an industrial environment," RIFT CEO, Mark Verhagen, said. "Now the focus is shifting to preparation and execution of the first commercial project. This is a concrete step towards making industrial heat more sustainable at scale."

Van den Brule added that with this financing, RIFT can take a "big step" towards the commercialisation of its "promising technology".

“As an early investor in this company, PGGM is happy to participate in this new financing round: the sustainable energy solution offered by RIFT fits in perfectly with the mandate that PFZW has given us: investing in companies that have an impact on the energy transition and making the industry more sustainable, in line with the return-risk criteria of the PFZW investment policy,” he said.

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