Daphni invests in Epyr
Funding Provisional 84% confidence first seen
Epyr, a French industrial thermal energy-storage startup, raised a €15M Series A led by SlateVC. Existing investors AENU and Daphni “are doubling down,” alongside other participants including WEPA Ventures, OVNI Capital, and Aurum Impact. The funding is intended to scale additional industrial heat storage deployments, including a planned 35 MWh unit at Papeco to replace natural gas use, helping electrify and decarbonize high-temperature industrial heat.
The deal
Deal terms as reported in the coverage below.
Decision brief
- What changed
- Epyr, a French industrial thermal energy-storage startup, raised a €15 million Series A led by SlateVC, with existing investor Daphni participating again alongside AENU and others. The company said the funding will be used to expand industrial heat-storage deployments, including a planned 35 MWh unit at Papeco intended to replace natural gas use.
- Why it matters
- This is a financing and deployment signal for industrial operators evaluating alternatives to fossil-fuel-based process heat: Epyr has moved beyond concept stage to a live installation that reportedly supplies up to 25% of steam demand at a paper mill. For business leaders, the relevant decision angle is whether thermal storage is becoming practical enough to include in electrification, energy-cost, and decarbonization planning for high-temperature industrial sites. The new capital may also improve Epyr’s ability to deliver additional projects, which matters for companies assessing supplier viability and deployment capacity.
- Evidence
- The coverage comes from a single Tech.eu report stating that Epyr raised €15 million, that Daphni and AENU reinvested, and that Epyr’s first installation at WEPA Group’s Troyes paper mill was inaugurated in May 2026 and supplies up to 25% of the mill’s steam requirements. The same report says the next planned deployment is a 35 MWh unit at Papeco intended to replace natural gas use.
- What remains uncertain
- This account is based on one article, so there is limited independent confirmation of performance, project economics, and customer outcomes. Key unknowns include deployment timelines, total installed cost, operating reliability, and whether the Papeco project will fully achieve the stated natural-gas replacement objective at commercial scale.
- Monitor next
- Watch for commissioning details and measured performance data from the planned 35 MWh Papeco installation, especially evidence of actual natural-gas displacement and repeatable economics.
Analytical support, not advice — assumptions and open questions stated above.