Phoenix Metals raises €4 million seed round to scale recovery of critical raw materials from industrial waste
Dutch deep-tech company Phoenix Metals will build a pilot facility in IJmuiden designed to process approximately 500 tonnes of material, taking the next step towards commercial-scale production.
Phoenix Metals has secured a €4 million seed investment from Dutch regional development agencies InnovationQuarter and ROM InWest, together with regional investor and project developer Mossinkoff Investments.
The investment enables Phoenix Metals to build and commission the pilot facility in IJmuiden, moving the company from lab-scale development to industrial demonstration. It will generate the operational data, qualified products and industrial partnerships required for Phoenix Metals’ first commercial facility.
Phoenix Metals has developed a low-temperature hydrometallurgical process to recover vanadium and other valuable materials from industrial waste streams, including steel slag, refinery residues and maritime waste. Its novel processes avoid the use of ammonia, organic solvents and is free of hazardous process waste.
Unlike conventional processes that selectively recover a single high-value metal, Phoenix Metals aims to valorise the full material stream. From steel slag, the company targets the recovery of vanadium alongside iron, magnesium, manganese, calcium-based products and other reusable mineral fractions.
Broad societal impact
Phoenix Metals’ innovative technology has a threefold societal impact. First, it addresses a significant industrial challenge: the processing of steel slag. Second, it strengthens Europe’s strategic autonomy by recovering critical materials such as vanadium within Europe. Currently, 95% of European vanadium demand is imported. Third, vanadium is a critical raw material required for the manufacture of high-performance steel alloys used in construction, defence and nuclear applications, as well as vanadium flow batteries, which are manufactured in Europe and provide large-scale energy storage solutions for grid operators, industrial clusters, data centres and renewable energy projects. Phoenix Metals not only recovers vanadium but purifies it to a battery grade vanadium electrolyte directly applicable in vanadium batteries. In this way, Phoenix Metals’ technology also contributes to Europe’s energy transition.
“Phoenix Metals demonstrates how innovation can unlock new value from industrial residual streams. By combining breakthrough technology with a pilot facility in IJmuiden, the company is creating more circular and resilient industrial value chains in our region while addressing a strategic European need for critical raw materials. We are proud to support the team in this next phase of industrial scale-up,” said Reynier de Monchy, Senior Investment Manager at ROM InWest.
Strong private and public backing
In addition to the current investment round, Phoenix Metals has secured more than €5 million in grants from the European Just Transition Fund, the provinces of South Holland and North Holland, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency and Kansen voor West.
This combination of private and public funding reflects the growing strategic and economic importance of recovering critical raw materials from industrial waste streams already available within Europe.
“Europe urgently needs to recover and recycle more critical metals from its own industrial waste streams, not only to reduce reliance on mining and imports, but also to build a resilient and circular economy. ”
“Phoenix Metals turns that strategic challenge into an industrial opportunity. Its move from lab validation in Delft to pilot-scale demonstration in IJmuiden is exactly the kind of cross-regional industrial scale-up we want to enable,” adds Jesse.
Industrial demonstration in connection to Tata Steel Netherlands
The pilot facility will process steel slag and other industrial feedstocks together with industrial partners, including Tata Steel Netherlands. It will demonstrate consistent product quality, validate energy and chemical consumption and produce sufficient volumes for customer testing and qualification.
“The recovery of iron, magnesium and calcium from slags for reuse in steelmaking and cement is an attractive idea. The additional recovery of vanadium for battery applications is not directly relevant for Tata but is a further innovation that we welcome to make the EU more resilient on critical materials. We look forward to Phoenix Metals demonstrating the scalability of its process,” said Hans van der Weijde, Director Strategy, Programmes and External Collaborations at Tata Steel Technology.
Clear path to commercial scale
The pilot is expected to unlock several commercial deployment opportunities, positioning Phoenix Metals for rapid scale-up following completion of the demonstration phase.
“This investment allows us to make the decisive step from development to production.”
“The pilot will demonstrate that valuable materials can be recovered reliably, repeatably and with consistent product quality using industrial equipment,” adds Stijn.
The seed round finances the industrial validation required for commercial expansion. Phoenix Metals targets the start of pilot production in the first half of 2027, with a subsequent Series A round planned to finance the first commercial-scale facility.
“We have enough vanadium in the steel slag produced by Tata in the Netherlands to already meet 1/3 of current European import demand,” said Gijsbert Bakker, CEO of Phoenix Metals. “With committed investors, strong public backing, industrial collaboration with Tata Steel and other integrated steel mills, and a clear path to commercial scale, we are now moving from proving the technology to building a new European raw-materials industry which can support a growing and sustainable economy.”
About Phoenix Metals
Phoenix Metals is a Dutch deep-tech and urban-mining company developing low-temperature hydrometallurgical technologies to recover vanadium and other strategic materials from industrial waste.
From its research base at Yes!Delft Labs, located on the TU Delft campus and its planned pilot facility in IJmuiden, Phoenix Metals works with industrial partners to convert residual streams into battery materials, reusable metals and mineral products.
