Ore Energy raises $43 million to build its first iron-air battery factory

Why it matters

Ore Energy now has institutional capital and a 2028 customer deadline to prove that European iron-air batteries can be manufactured and deployed at utility scale.

Aytac Yilmaz, a materials scientist who turned his research on corrosion into a battery startup, has raised $43 million for Ore Energy to build its first manufacturing facility and move a 100-hour iron-air storage system toward commercial deployment. Tech.eu reported the Series A on August 4th.

Plural and HV Capital led the round, with existing investor Positron Ventures participating. Tech.eu said the financing brings Ore Energy's total capital raised to $61 million. The round's structure and individual investor contributions were not detailed.

Yilmaz completed a PhD and postdoctoral research at Delft University of Technology, where he studied corrosion and iron-air energy storage. That work became the technical basis for Ore Energy, which he founded with Yaiza Gonzalez Garcia, a TU Delft materials-science professor whose research covers corrosion, electrochemistry and the relationship between metals' microstructure and durability.

Their founding insight was straightforward: rust, normally an engineering problem, could serve as the reversible chemical reaction inside a rechargeable battery. Ore Energy's system releases electricity as metallic iron oxidizes and stores electricity by reversing the reaction. Oxygen comes from the surrounding air, while the other principal materials are iron and water.

From laboratory chemistry to factory production

Ore Energy says its batteries can discharge for between 24 and 100 hours, putting the system in a different operating window from the lithium-ion batteries commonly used to shift electricity over shorter periods. Multi-day storage is intended to cover extended gaps in wind and solar generation, when grids would otherwise turn to gas-fired power.

The Series A will finance the manufacturing step required to test whether Ore Energy's chemistry can work as an industrial product. Building a factory introduces a different set of risks from proving a battery in a laboratory: production yield, component reliability, installation cost and repeatable field performance will determine whether the system can compete for utility procurement.

Ore Energy has moved through two grid-connected pilots. It connected an iron-air system in Delft and, on February 10th, 2026, announced the completion of a 100-hour pilot at EDF's research laboratories in France. Ore Energy said the EDF system operated under utility conditions for several months, producing data on charging, discharging and grid integration.

The European Innovation Council has also committed about 2.5 million euros to an Ore Energy project running from December 2024 through November 2026. That public support matters for interpreting the $61 million cumulative funding figure: Ore Energy's financing history includes non-dilutive European funding alongside venture capital.

Positron Ventures backed Ore Energy before its incorporation and led its first capital raise, according to the investor's portfolio page. In May 2024, Ore Energy emerged from stealth with a 10 million-euro seed round and plans for a megawatt-scale factory. The new round gives Yilmaz substantially more capital for that manufacturing push, while adding two larger European venture firms to the shareholder base.

A 2028 delivery sets the commercial deadline

Ore Energy's most consequential customer commitment is an agreement with Dutch energy supplier Budget Thuis for up to 1 GWh of storage. The June 24th announcement included a committed first phase of 400 MWh planned for delivery in 2028.

Ore Energy calls the agreement continental Europe's largest announced iron-air storage offtake and the first with a European energy supplier. Those descriptions remain company claims. The contracted first phase provides a concrete target: Ore Energy must establish production, finish engineering its containerized system and deliver equipment at a scale far beyond its pilots.

The planned Budget Thuis system will use 40-foot containers configurable for discharge durations ranging from 24 to 100 hours. Budget Thuis expects the batteries to store power during periods of abundant renewable generation and release it when electricity is scarce and expensive. The larger 1 GWh figure describes the full agreement, while 400 MWh is the committed initial deployment.

"We've shown our iron-air chemistry works in a European utility setting, and this deployment is the next step in commercialization," Yilmaz said when Ore Energy announced the agreement. He has described iron-air storage as a counterpart to wind generation in the way lithium-ion batteries have become associated with shifting solar power into evening demand.

Europe becomes part of the product strategy

Ore Energy's pitch also rests on its supply chain. Ore Energy says its batteries require no lithium or cobalt and can be manufactured from materials sourced in Europe. That claim gives the technology a strategic dimension as European governments seek energy infrastructure that is less exposed to imported critical minerals and volatile commodity markets.

The closest direct comparison is Form Energy, the U.S. iron-air battery developer that has pursued the same 100-hour storage category. Yilmaz has previously framed the companies as regional counterparts pursuing a shared goal, with Ore Energy concentrating on European grids, customers and manufacturing.

Ore Energy still has to prove its economics at commercial scale. A battery built from inexpensive inputs can remain costly if factory throughput is low, installations are complex or systems degrade faster than expected. The $43 million round buys Yilmaz time and manufacturing capacity to answer those questions before the 2028 delivery date.

"Affordable, renewable baseload power is the foundation for the next generation of manufacturing, AI infrastructure and industrial growth globally," Yilmaz said in the funding announcement. Ore Energy's factory and its first 400 MWh order will determine whether that argument can move from research-backed chemistry into repeatable grid infrastructure.