EIC ePitching on Energy Transition: nine EIC-backed cleantech startups meet top investors, 36 follow-ups

Brussels, October 27th 2025

Summary

›On 16 October 2025 the EIC ran an online ePitching session that matched nine EIC-backed energy innovators with 30+ investors and generated 36 follow-up meetings and introductions.
›Reblade won the best pitch with a drone-based wind turbine leading-edge repair solution and is seeking a EUR 3 million round.
›FLASC took second place with a subsea hydro-pneumatic liquid piston energy storage concept and is targeting an EUR 8–10 million Series A.
›The cohort included firms addressing storage, hydrogen materials, circular construction materials, bio-crude, water monitoring and waste heat to power, highlighting both diversity and capital intensity in European energy deep tech.
›Investors and organisers praised the curation and format but familiar scale-up risks remain such as capex needs, long procurement cycles and demonstration risk.

EIC ePitching on Energy Transition connects nine EIC-backed energy innovators with top European investors

On 16 October 2025 the European Innovation Council ran an online ePitching session under its Investor Readiness and Outreach Programme, part of the EIC Business Acceleration Services. Nine EIC-backed sustainable energy companies presented to a curated panel and a broader audience of more than 30 investors. The organisers report 36 follow-up meetings and introductions arising from the event, a metric often used to measure immediate investor interest after pitching.

Winners and who presented

The investor panel voted Reblade as the best pitch of the day and FLASC came second. The nine presenting companies covered a broad set of technologies spanning offshore storage, drone automation for turbine maintenance, circular construction materials, thermal and chemical energy storage, hydrogen materials, biofuel from biomass, water network monitoring and waste heat recovery.

Company	Country	Technology / focus	Key claim or milestone	Funding target (reported)
Reblade	Denmark	Drone-based automated repairs of wind turbine leading-edge erosion	Reduce turbine downtime by 90% and increase repair capacity six-fold; won best pitch	EUR 3 million
FLASC	Netherlands	Offshore energy storage using hydro-pneumatic liquid piston in subsea pipelines	Uses sea as heatsink to improve near-isothermal efficiency; claimed up to 30% increased value for offshore wind	Series A EUR 8–10 million
Everox	Netherlands	Upcycling waste concrete into low-carbon binder to replace cement	Piloted >1 kt material; building 150 kt/year plant in Rotterdam to save ~17 kt CO2/year
Hardt Hyperloop	Netherlands	Hyperloop transport technology	Demo at the 420-metre European Hyperloop Center
Hyme Energy	Denmark	Molten hydroxide thermal energy storage for high-temperature industrial heat	Breakthrough salt treatment system and the MOSS demonstrator project
Kvasir Technologies	Denmark	Conversion of plant biomass to bio-crude for refinery co-feed and fuels
Matteco	Spain	Platinum-group-metal-free catalysts and electrodes for green hydrogen	PGM-free electrocatalysts intended to cut electrolyser costs
Pydro	Germany	Self-powered sensors and PT1 flowmeter for real-time drinking water network monitoring	Field-proven no-battery flowmeter that sends data every minute
Zigrid	Sweden	Conversion of low-grade industrial waste heat below 100°C into electricity

Selected companies and the technical propositions

Reblade's proposition:Reblade presented a drone-based system for automated repairs of leading-edge erosion on wind turbine blades. The company claims its solution can reduce downtime by 90%, increase repair throughput by six-fold and expand automated maintenance from about 1 percent to substantially more frequent, routine interventions. Founded in 2020, Reblade says it is seeking a €3 million funding round from investors familiar with hardware capex. The company reports near-term commercial expansion plans including US contract negotiations, EU-based production and a 25 percent team growth to optimise software integration for the 2026 season.

FLASC's proposition:FLASC presented a patented offshore energy storage architecture that uses compressed air stored in subsea pipelines with a hydro-pneumatic liquid piston. The company emphasised thermal management benefits from using the ocean as a natural heatsink during compression to improve near-isothermal efficiency. FLASC projects performance and business-case improvements for offshore wind farms, and is targeting a Series A round of EUR 8–10 million. The company framed the technology as an alternative to Li-ion battery farms for co-located offshore storage.

Everox and circular construction materials:Everox converts waste concrete back into a low-carbon binder that can substitute cement and reduce CO2 intensity in concrete. After piloting over 1 kiloton of material, Everox plans a 150 kt/year plant in Rotterdam and estimates annual CO2 savings of about 17 kt once operational. The technology targets construction sector decarbonisation and competes with industrial by-product binders such as fly ash and slag.

Short summaries of the other presenters: Hardt Hyperloop showcased a recent technology demonstration at the 420-m European Hyperloop Center. Hyme Energy discussed molten hydroxide thermal storage and its MOSS demonstrator, which targets long duration, high-temperature heat for industry. Kvasir Technologies commercialises a liquefaction approach that converts lignocellulosic biomass into bio-crude for refinery co-feed and fuels. Matteco is developing PGM-free catalysts and electrode materials to lower electrolyser costs for green hydrogen. Pydro showed a self-powered PT1 flowmeter that measures and transmits high-frequency network data without batteries. Zigrid pitched technology to convert low-grade waste heat below 100°C into electricity for process industries and AI data centres.

Investor engagement and how the event is structured

The session was organised under the EIC Investor Readiness and Outreach Programme. Jury members and attending investors included a mix of European venture and growth funds, corporate venture arms and strategic industrial investors. The event combined short pitches, investor Q&A and one-on-one meetings to accelerate downstream engagement. Organisers reported 36 follow-up meetings and introductions, a direct indicator of investor interest in this curated cohort.

Representative investors and partners on the jury or attending	Type
2150 VC, eCAPITAL, ETF Partners, G-Force, GTT Group, Hampleton Partners, Holcim Technology, IFC, Inclimo Climate Tech Fund	VCs, corporate venture, advisory
Investinor, Junction Growth Investors, Kiko Ventures, Kopa Ventures, Munich Venture Partners, Navus Ventures, Planet First Partners, Polestar Capital, SAP SE, SET Ventures	Venture funds and strategic corporates
Swiss Family Capital, Tilt Capital, Vireo Ventures Management, World Fund and others	Family office, growth funds and impact investors

Investor commentary emphasised the curation and readiness of the presenting companies. Polestar Circular Debt Fund noted a varied maturity mix and strong fit for circularity and sustainability. FORWARD.one and SET Ventures highlighted the event's quality, the sector focus, and the value of immediate one-on-one meetings for deeper evaluation.

What the pitches and investor responses reveal about market readiness

The event highlighted several characteristics common to European energy deep tech. First, solutions are capital intensive and often require project finance or strategic industrial partners beyond standard venture funding. Second, many technologies are hardware heavy or grid integrated and therefore face long demonstration timelines and procurement cycles. Third, investors valued companies that could demonstrate pilots, IP and credible paths to industrial-scale revenue.

Why pilots and industrial partners matter:For energy and industrial hardware the main barriers to scale are not only product-market fit but also demonstration at scale, proven reliability in harsh conditions, established supply chains and enforceable offtake or service contracts. Investors at the event repeatedly emphasised those points when evaluating the pitches.

The flip side is that Europe’s institutional and corporate capital base for climate tech is active and well represented. Presence of corporate investors such as Holcim Technology or utility and infrastructure funds can be decisive for companies that need customer contracts, large-scale pilots or industrial co-investment.

Technical concepts explained

Hydro-pneumatic liquid piston energy storage:This design uses a liquid piston to separate compressed air from seawater in a subsea pipeline. The ocean provides a stable ambient temperature that can reduce thermal losses during gas compression and expansion, improving round-trip efficiency compared to an open-air compressed air system. Key questions for investors include subsea deployment costs, long term maintenance in a marine environment and integration with offshore wind farms and grid connection regimes.

Molten hydroxide thermal storage:Molten hydroxides are a class of high-temperature thermal storage media similar to molten salts. They can store large amounts of thermal energy at high temperature for dispatchable heat or steam. Investment risks to scrutinise include materials compatibility, thermal cycling durability, and how the technology competes with alternative heat storage and demand-side measures.

Drone-based leading-edge repair:Automating leading-edge erosion repair with drones reduces the need for rope access or costly specialized crews. Important validation points are repair quality versus manual methods, certification or OEM approvals, operations under varying weather windows, and the economics across turbine vintages.

Caveats and open questions investors will want answered

Public statements and pitch claims are useful to start conversations but need independent validation. Several claims presented at the session are promising yet typical of early-stage hardware and systems companies. Investors will look for detailed data from pilots and third party verifications. Key risk areas across the cohort include high capital expenditure to scale, long customer procurement cycles in utilities and infrastructure, regulatory uncertainty for new subsea hardware or novel construction binders, supply chain risk for specialised components and the challenge of converting pilots into repeatable commercial contracts.

How the EIC Investor Readiness and Outreach Programme fits in

The ePitching event is part of the EIC Investor Readiness and Outreach Programme within the EIC Business Acceleration Services. The programme offers coaching, benchmarking and matchmaking to prepare EIC Accelerator awardees for investment and to promote co-investment with top sector investors. For many participating companies the programme creates a low friction platform to surface corporate and VC interest and to organise follow-up technical and commercial due diligence.

Measured outcomes reported by the organisers:Organisers reported more than 30 investors in attendance, 36 follow-up meetings and a satisfaction rate in stakeholder comments. These short term outcomes are necessary but not sufficient indicators of eventual funding or commercial success.

Practical next steps for founders and investors

For founders: use the momentum from these events to document pilot data, secure industrial partners or letters of intent and clarify capital needs across demonstration, certification and manufacturing stages. For investors: expect to request robust technical data, references from pilots and clear unit economics that reflect project capex and operational service models.

The EIC also announced upcoming ePitching sessions under the Investor Readiness and Outreach Programme. The next online sessions are focused on semiconductors, quantum and photonics on 6 November 2025 and on smart manufacturing on 11 December 2025. Companies were invited to apply and investors interested in joining can contact investments@eicfund.eu for details.

Why this matters for Europe’s energy transition ecosystem

Events such as this are fuel for the deal pipeline in European cleantech. They showcase a healthy flow of deep-tech startups coming through EIC-backed programmes and expose them to a wide investor base. That said, the underlying funding landscape remains challenging for capital intensive hardware and industrial projects, especially beyond early venture rounds. Closing those gaps will require blended finance, industrial co-investors and public procurement to derisk first commercial deployments.

The session reinforced two durable points. First, Europe is generating technically credible and diverse energy innovations. Second, converting those innovations into commercial scale will rely on pragmatic financing structures, patient capital and integration with large industrial buyers or offtakers.

Where to find more information and how to follow up

The ePitching was organised by the EIC Investor Readiness and Outreach Programme within the EIC Business Acceleration Services. Founders and investors can follow the EIC BAS communications and the EIC Community Platform for calls, coaching opportunities and future pitching sessions. Investors who wish to join upcoming ePitchings are invited to contact investments@eicfund.eu.