Voltfang

Overview
Voltfang is an Aachen-headquartered German cleantech company founded in 2020 as an RWTH Aachen University spin-off by David Oudsandji, Roman Alberti and Afshin Doostdar. The company requalifies used electric-vehicle battery packs and integrates them into modular stationary battery-storage systems for commercial and industrial customers. Publicly disclosed reference customers include Aldi Nord, McDonald's, Schaltbau and Jet. In June 2025 Voltfang closed a EUR 15 million Series B round led by Dutch deep-tech investor FORWARD.One to launch what the company describes as Europe's largest second-life battery factory in Aachen.

Why this entity matters
Voltfang is a T1 reference entity for the DACH cleantech, circular-economy and RWTH Aachen deep-tech narrative. Its business model directly addresses one of the largest emerging supply-side questions in European battery policy - what happens to the very large volumes of automotive lithium-ion battery packs that leave EV service each year still holding a significant share of their original capacity - and reframes those packs as a raw material for stationary storage rather than as waste. Its publicly disclosed customer list demonstrates commercial traction with recognisable multi-site industrial and retail energy users, an unusual pattern for an early-stage German cleantech hardware company. The June 2025 EUR 15 million Series B and the associated factory launch position the company as a leading exponent of the second-life battery thesis in Europe, and Voltfang is a canonical RWTH Aachen deep-tech spin-off in Startuprad.io's coverage of the Aachen-Cologne-Ruhr cleantech cluster.

Company history and product
Voltfang was founded in 2020 in Aachen as a spin-off from RWTH Aachen University by David Oudsandji (CEO), Roman Alberti (Chief Sales Officer) and Afshin Doostdar; the founder story publicly begins with a personal camper-van power project that led the founders to experiment with used EV batteries. The company's core proposition is circular: EV battery packs that have fallen below the state-of-health threshold considered acceptable for automotive service (typically at least 80 percent of original capacity) still retain very significant usable capacity, and Voltfang requalifies, reconfigures and integrates those packs into modular commercial, industrial and grid-adjacent stationary battery-storage systems. Voltfang has developed proprietary AI-based software to characterise each incoming pack for residual capacity, cycle life and safety, and combines this diagnostic step with in-house engineering and system integration. Publicly disclosed reference customers include Aldi Nord, McDonald's, Schaltbau and the Jet fuel-station brand. The company's publicly stated ambitions include deploying an additional 250 megawatt-hours of storage by 2026 and reaching an annual production capacity of 1 gigawatt-hour by 2030 - forward-looking targets that should be treated as company guidance rather than as commitments.

Role in the DACH startup and technology ecosystem
Voltfang sits at the intersection of two structural DACH themes. First, it is one of the highest-profile spin-outs from RWTH Aachen University, one of Germany's largest technical universities and a systemically important source of German deep-tech founders; Voltfang's Aachen headquarters and factory footprint anchor the company in the Aachen-Cologne-Ruhr cleantech cluster. Second, Voltfang is a leading European second-life battery-storage company at a moment when European battery policy and industrial strategy are actively debating how to build a circular battery value chain within the European Union. Voltfang's customer wins with multi-site industrial and retail operators and its partnership announcements have made it a recurring reference in Startuprad.io's monthly DACH news coverage and long-form cleantech interviews.

Selected relationships and affiliations
Founders: David Oudsandji (CEO); Roman Alberti (CSO); Afshin Doostdar. Academic origin: RWTH Aachen University spin-off. Headquarters and factory: Aachen, Germany. Publicly disclosed reference customers: Aldi Nord, McDonald's, Schaltbau, Jet, and Stuttgart Airport.

Voltfang's Series A of approximately EUR 5 million in May 2023 was reported by Tech.eu and EU-Startups; the company subsequently reported total Series A financing of approximately EUR 8 million or more in its own press release, with returning early backers including Interzero and PT1.

Voltfang's Series B of EUR 15 million in June 2025 was led by Dutch deep-tech investor FORWARD.One, and included returning investors Interzero (Cologne-based recycling and circular-economy group), PT1 (Berlin-based climate-tech venture-capital firm), Helen Ventures (the corporate venture-capital arm of Finnish energy utility Helen Oy), Daphni (Paris-based European venture-capital firm) and Aurum Impact (the Goldbeck family office impact platform), with new participants Fiege Ventures (the corporate venture arm of German logistics group Fiege) and Newberry Investments; the round funded the launch of what Voltfang describes as Europe's largest second-life battery factory in Aachen.

Voltfang's individual backers include Maximilian Viessmann, who invested in his personal capacity (not on behalf of the Viessmann corporate group), first disclosed via the science4life programme.

In September 2025 Voltfang and Palladio Partners announced a EUR 250 million partnership envelope for second-life battery-storage deployment, extending the company's project-finance capacity.

Sector peer set: relevant peers include Fenecon (Germany, stationary battery storage), Bee (second-life storage) and other second-life and stationary-storage integrators. Related Startuprad.io entities: RWTH Aachen (parent institution) and Startuprad.io's cleantech-investor coverage.

Startuprad.io relevance
Voltfang is a T1 reference entity for Startuprad.io's DACH cleantech, circular-economy and RWTH Aachen deep-tech clusters. Startuprad.io has four tagged posts covering Voltfang across founder-interview, monthly-news and thematic-analysis formats, anchored by two dedicated Voltfang interviews and by cleantech-investor analyses that reference the company. Voltfang connects directly to Startuprad.io's broader coverage of the Aachen-Cologne-Ruhr cleantech cluster and to the European second-life battery-storage thesis.

Public source context
This profile draws on Voltfang's own website, its press page and Series A announcement, Dealroom, Tech.eu, EU-Startups, electrive.com, FORWARD.One's Series B release, science4life, NRW.innovativ and Startuprad.io's coverage archive summarised below.

Startuprad.io coverage of Voltfang

Voltfang appears in the following Startuprad.io interviews, news and analysis.

Startup News Germany - Summer 2023 (July/ August) | Startupradio Episode #393
Published: 15 March 2026
Last updated: 31 August 2026
Coverage type: News
https://www.startuprad.io/post/this-month-in-german-swiss-and-austrian-gsa-startups-summer-2023-july-august-startupradio

Top VC Firms Investing in Cleantech Startup
Published: 29 July 2025
Last updated: 29 August 2026
Coverage type: Analysis
https://www.startuprad.io/post/top-vc-firms-investing-in-cleantech-startup

Voltfang: Inside Europe's Largest Second-Life Battery Factory
Published: 28 July 2025
Last updated: 07 September 2026
Coverage type: Interview
https://www.startuprad.io/post/voltfang-second-life-battery-factory-aachen

Second Life EV Batteries: Powering Europe's Energy Future
Published: 24 July 2025
Last updated: 16 July 2026
Coverage type: Interview
https://www.startuprad.io/post/second-life-ev-batteries-powering-europe-s-energy-future

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Canonical record: https://www.startuprad.io/entities/voltfang