Investment Notes: Good Heat

Investible’s Climate Tech Fund participated in Good Heat’s pre-seed round, which was led by Understorey Ventures. In these investment notes, we’ll share why we chose to back Good Heat, from the market inflection in industrial heat and the opportunity in thermal energy storage, to the team’s credibility, early partnerships, and the company’s vertically-integrated software advantage driving scalable clean heat infrastructure.

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A Trillion-Dollar Tipping Point

Heat is the unsung giant of industrial energy.  

It accounts for roughly half of all industrial energy consumption, and nearly all of it still comes from burning fossil fuels. As a result, supplying heat for heavy industry is a major source of emissions; energy-intensive sectors like steel, cement, and chemicals alone contribute over 20% of global CO₂ emissions.  

Decarbonising industrial heat is both an enormous challenge and a massive opportunity. In fact, industrial heat is a $2 trillion global market; nearly double the size of the commercial & industrial electricity market! That’s wild.  

Systemiq 2024 report on TES market opportunity

Now, a convergence of forces is pushing this market to an inflection point. Rising carbon prices and fuel volatility are making traditional gas and coal boilers less attractive, while regulators in regions like the EU and Australia are introducing strong climate policies and incentives for clean heat. Together, these factors are driving urgent demand for alternatives. Industrial firms are actively seeking solutions that can deliver high-temperature heat without carbon emissions, creating a ripe moment for innovation in thermal energy.

At the same time, we’re seeing an emergence of players eager to ride this wave. From startups to emerging OEMs , companies like MGA Thermal, Rondo, and Kraftblock are all working to prove their heat battery technologies at commercial scale. This influx of innovation validates the opportunity and highlights the importance of platforms like Good Heat that can aggregate, finance, and optimise these technologies to accelerate adoption.

Thermal Energy Storage: The Next Frontier in Climate Tech

One of the most exciting frontiers to address this challenge is thermal energy storage (TES); the ability to store energy as heat and dispatch it on demand. TES can play a pivotal role in decarbonising heavy industries by providing a clean substitute for fossil-fired heat.  

Recent advances in materials and design have made it possible to reach the extreme temperatures many industrial processes need. Innovators have demonstrated systems that can exceed 1000°C, high enough for applications in steel and cement production.  

The concept isn’t entirely new. For example, large concentrated solar power plants have used molten salt thermal storage for decades, but new TES solutions are more versatile and efficient than ever.  

Crucially, TES can make use of abundant cheap renewable energy: when wind or solar power is plentiful (and electricity prices dip low or even negative), that energy can be converted into heat and stored in a “heat battery” for later use. Unlike conventional batteries, thermal storage is relatively inexpensive at scale and suffers less degradation over long durations. In short, TES can unlock clean heat on demand, enabling factories to run on renewable energy around the clock. That’s why we see thermal energy storage as a game-changer for industrial decarbonisation, and why Good Heat’s focus on TES immediately caught our attention.

Good Heat’s Scalable Heat-as-a-Service Model

Good Heat is building the infrastructure needed to deliver clean heat at scale. What makes their approach compelling is a vertically-integrated Heat-as-a-Service (HaaS) model that combines project development, finance, and software.  

In practice, Good Heat partners with thermal battery OEMs (the makers of high-temperature heat storage systems) to develop projects for industrial customers. Clients get carbon-free heat as a service, with no upfront CapEx, replacing the need for them to buy or upgrade boilers. Instead, the heavy lifting on financing is handled by Good Heat and its partners: Good Heat secures dedicated project finance to cover the installation of the heat storage asset. This means customers can switch to clean heat without capital risk, paying for the heat supply via long-term offtake contracts. Good Heat then manages and operates the thermal storage asset on the customer’s behalf using its proprietary Energy Management Software platform (internally dubbed “Good Heat EMS”).  

Good Heat manages all complexities of developing, financing and managing a heat battery – the customer just receives long term, predictable clean heat.  

This vertically-integrated software is a critical piece of the puzzle, it optimizes when and how the heat batteries draw electricity and supply heat, maximizing efficiency and financial returns. For example, Good Heat’s software can schedule the charging of the heat battery when renewable power is cheapest (or when the grid would otherwise curtail excess solar/wind) and then store that energy as heat for use during expensive peak periods.  

Good Heat earns revenue through development fees, project cashflows and software , all while avoiding the need to raise and deploy massive amounts of its own equity in capital projects. In other words, Good Heat can scale clean heat infrastructure fast, because it leverages the appetite from infra (debt) investors to finance projects with these kind of secured revenue stacks. . We’ve seen similar playbooks succeed in the renewable energy and battery storage sectors (where developers deploy assets via project finance and be the long-term owner and manager benefitting from the stable project cashflows and software licences.), and Good Heat brings that proven approach to the thermal energy domain.

Early Traction with Industry-Leading Partners

Despite being at the pre-seed stage, Good Heat has already made impressive headway in proving its model. Good Heat has already demonstrated an ability to attract external equity funding for its first projects, thanks to the long-term, contracted nature of the heat supply agreements (15+ year HaaS contracts that de-risk the revenue).  

Their first installation, a 20MW opportunity in Australia, will provide round-the-clock renewable heat for food processing, replacing fossil-fueled boilers.  And that first customer is also fundinga feasibility study for a follow-on project in the Netherlands, indicating a broader pipeline of work with this customer and in Europe.

On the financing side, Good Heat has lined up support from specialist investors who recognize the value of its Heat-as-a-Service approach. Additionally, Good Heat is in discussions with other infrastructure financiers and energy off-takers to expand its project pipeline.

The inbound interest has been overwhelming. Good Heat’s pipeline now spans hundreds of megawatts of potential projects across food & beverage, agriculture, resources, and other industries, in markets from Australia and New Zealand to Europe. Much of this pipeline is driven by OEM and customer demand coming directly to Good Heat (often via referrals from thermal battery manufacturers eager to see their technology deployed). This strong early traction reinforces our conviction: industrial players are actively seeking clean heat solutions, and Good Heat is emerging as a trusted platform to deliver them.

Founders with Deep Energy and Commercial Expertise

Finally, the strongest reason we invested in Good Heat is the calibre of its founding team. The company’s three co-founders bring a rare combination of domain expertise in renewable projects, energy trading, and advanced energy software; exactly the skill set needed to tackle this multi-faceted opportunity.  

Bauke van Gent (CEO) has over 15 years of experience in energy and renewables, having delivered 2 GW of utility-scale projects across Australia in his career. As the former Commercial Leader at Neoen (a global player in renewable energy developments), he led flagship initiatives including innovative “baseload renewable” power purchase agreements. Bauke’s background in project development and complex deal negotiation provides Good Heat with the seasoned leadership required to execute large-scale infrastructure deals.  

Bruis van Vlijmen (CTO) is a battery technology and optimization specialist. He spent years in research at Stanford University and SLAC, co-developing AI/ML techniques for battery performance (in collaboration with MIT and the Toyota Research Institute). He has also worked as a venture partner advising climate-tech startups on scaling their innovations at Transition VC. Bruis’s technical depth in energy storage and battery algorithms ensures Good Heat’s platform is built on rigorous engineering and data-driven optimization.  

Rounding out the trio, Tom Geiser (Chief Energy Markets Officer) who uniquely bridges the energy markets and commercial worlds. Tom  set up the energy trading desk at Neoen and even helped design Neoen’s automated bidding software for large batteries. He later led Rondo Energy’s operations in Australia, deploying high-temperature heat batteries to decarbonise industrial heat with off-peak renewables. Beyond his résumé, Tom’s credibility came through powerfully in our diligence: during multiple reference calls, we were told, “validate the technology and opportunity with Tom Geiser, he is the best!”, so it was a natural decision for the Good Heat team to get him for the role.

This team understands not just the technology of thermal storage, but also the commercial frameworks (PPAs, offtake contracts, market regulations) needed to make projects viable. This gives us confidence that Good Heat can navigate the complexities of scaling clean heat infrastructure.

We are excited to see what they can achieve!  

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