Portfolio overview

RIFT

RIFT’s mission is to decarbonise the energy intensive industries by providing Iron Fuel Technology – a clean technology for district heating, industrial processes and electricity plants. Iron fuel enables companies to produce clean energy in the form of hot water, steam or air.

The next breakthrough in cleantech

The need to switch away from gas and towards alternative and clean sources of heating is higher than ever, especially if you imagine that more than 40% of global CO2 emissions originate from energy-intensive industries. Despite the increasing pressure put on decarbonizing these energy-intensive industries (think: district heating, process industry and electricity generation), businesses are struggling due to a lack of (clean)technologies which fit their needs and do not cost a fortune.

This circular fuel is a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. Iron powder is used as a medium to store energy, when this is combusted, heat is created and the residual powder, iron-oxide (aka rust), is regenerated into iron fuel which can be used to create heat again (and again and again). RIFT is developing industrial-scale boilers which will directly replace gas-fueled boilers and save thousands of tons of CO2 emissions per year.

For RIFT we track the following impact targets:

➡️: Technology Readiness Level (TRL 5,6,7) achieved (75%)
➡️: RIFT’s direct + indirect CO2 footprint per MWh of iron fuel energy produced when the technology is at commercial scale (25%)

SDG Alignment

Bill Gates also joined

RIFT was founded by three friends from Eindhoven University of Technology, Mark Verhagen, Vincent Seijger and Lex Scheepers who worked together on iron fuel technology development in student team SOLID. This student team was part of the Metal Power Consortium and worked closely with the founding father of iron fuel, professor Philip de Goey. Mark, Vincent and Lex founded RIFT in 2021 to provide commercial access to this promising new clean fuel. Since then the team has developed the technology further and expanded with senior experts in the industry.

We invested together with the BOM and Energietransitiefonds Rotterdam. And more good news, because Bill Gates also joined This private investment coalition (founded by Bill Gates) aims to accelerate the development of technologies that will contribute to a climate-neutral world in 2050. Through this Fellows program RIFT will receive a considerable grant to accelerate their technological development and also gets access to world-class mentoring and education.