Pully-based SolidWatts has secured €1.9 million (CHF 1.8 million) in Seed funding to advance the development and commercialisation of its industrial process heating technology – preparing for market entry as it scales its platform and initiates pilot projects with industrial partners.
The round saw continued commitment from existing investors Evercurious VC, Kickfund and Axel Carbon Capital, while welcoming a new cohort of backers including Uni.Fund, Investing for Purpose, Loggerhead Ventures, Almanac Ventures and a group of angel investors.
“This investment is a tremendous endorsement of our mission to transform how industry consumes energy and allows us to bring RF technology to the power levels and efficiencies that industry actually needs,” says Dr Markus Aicheler, Founder and CTO of SolidWatts.
SolidWatts’ Seed round can be set against a broader run of funding in industrial decarbonisation and energy systems. Comparable announcements include Dutch industrial-heat company RIFT, which raised €113.8 million to deliver its first commercial industrial heat project; French heavy-industry energy company Spark Cleantech, which secured €30 million to scale cleaner energy systems for heavy industry; Swiss energy-transition platform enshift, which raised €18.5 million to expand integrated energy-transition solutions; Barcelona-based WtEnergy, which picked up €10 million to scale energy recovery from industrial waste and biomass; and Hamburg-based encentive, which raised €6.3 million to expand software aimed at cutting industrial energy costs.
Taken together with SolidWatts, these rounds amount to over €180 million in funding, indicating steady capital flow into technologies linked to industrial heat, electrification, energy efficiency and adjacent infrastructure.
The same-country comparison is enshift, also Swiss, which suggests Switzerland is a base for industrial and energy-transition businesses, albeit at different stages and cheque sizes.
EU-Startups has also covered SolidWatts before, reporting its €850k pre-Seed round in January 2025.
“Industrial process heating accounts for around 20% of global energy demand and roughly 10% of worldwide CO₂ emissions – yet it remains one of the hardest sectors to decarbonise. As global energy demand rises alongside the AI boom, improving efficiency becomes essential,” adds Dr Aicheler.
Founded in 2022, SolidWatt originated from high-power RF applications used in scientific research. Drawing on experience at CERN, where such systems are deployed in large-scale experiments, the founding team identified an opportunity to adapt the technology for industrial energy use.
SolidWatts develops a solid-state Radio Frequency (RF) platform designed to replace fossil fuel-based heating systems in industrial applications. The technology enables high-power dielectric heating, offering an alternative to conventional boilers, ovens, and furnaces.
The system operates by generating electromagnetic waves that heat materials internally, similar to the principle used in microwave ovens. This approach reportedly enables more direct energy transfer, with over 80% of electrical input converted into usable heating power.
As a result, energy losses to surrounding infrastructure are reduced, and overall process efficiency improves. The solid-state architecture also limits maintenance requirements and supports high system uptime.
Dr George Georgiadis, Partner at Evercurious VC, representing the investment group, adds: “SolidWatts powers the future of industrial resilience. Their technology drives efficiency and provides a clear path away from fossil fuel dependency. This investment reflects our mission to back European hard-tech champions that solve real-world problems. We are scaling an innovator born in Europe and built for the world.”
The platform targets energy-intensive industries, including chemical and pharmaceutical production, food processing, carbon capture, and advanced recycling.
According to the company, electrifying even a small share of industrial heating processes could have a measurable environmental impact. Replacing just 1% of these processes with its technology could reduce global CO2 emissions by an estimated 36 million tonnes annually – the equivalent of removing 7.8 million cars from the road.
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2026/03/industrial-heating-drives-20-of-global-energy-demand-as-solidwatts-secures-e1-9-million-seed-round/
