LIFE Programme - Close-to-Market Projects

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EU’s funding instrument for the environment and climate action LIFE protecting the environment and climate Watch our video to see how the LIFE Programme is driving fundamental change in the environment and people’s lives, with over 6,000 projects making a difference at the local level. Are you an SME, start-up or entity? Looking for support to develop your cleantech solution and bring it to the market? LIFE close-to-market With €3.4 million budget and €1.87 million EU co-funding, LIFE FIT’s Rail-Flow shifted freight to rail 32 countries, saving 115,000 litres of diesel, cutting costs and attracting €12.5 million investment. The LIFE Facilitating Intermodal Transport (LIFE FIT) project has transformed the way freight moves across Europe, cutting air pollutant emissions, reducing costs and proving that rail can compete with road. All thanks to a digital platform that lets any freight forwarder - a company that organises the shipment of goods for businesses - book intermodal transport in just a few clicks.Rail-Flow, the German-headquartered company behind the LIFE FIT project, which served as a starting point, now employs more than 170 people, operates across 32 countries, generated €10 million in revenue in 2025 (a figure expected to be exceeded this year), and closed a €12.5 million Series A funding round in December 2025. This type of ‘Series A’ financing round is the first major external investment (typically used to scale the business in exchange for equity) and will help Rail-Flow scale its business. Dominik Fürste, LIFE FIT’s project supervisor and co-CEO and co-founder of Rail-Flow, emphasises its international nature with English as the company’s working language. He highlights the company’s growth and ambition: “we are also proud to have a high share of female colleagues, which is not typical in engineering-driven companies. This year, we are going to exceed the two-digit million revenue. We are growing strongly and aim to become the global leader in the digitalisation of rail freight and intermodal transport.” The €12.5 million Series A funding round was led by Trill Impact, a European impact-focused private markets investor, and Bonsai Partners, a European venture capital firm specialising in high-growth technology companies. The acquired funds supported the integration of another company (Simply Deliver, a technology and sales partner based in Rotterdam) and will help accelerate geographic expansion in Europe, Australia and North America as well as further product development and the integration of AI into the platform. Rail-Flow’s co-CEO and co-founder explains: “We will also continue investing in our products. AI is becoming a big topic. You cannot simply provide ChatGPT to a dispatcher and hope that your logistics process changes. AI needs to become part of the DNA of our product, so this is  something we are working on.” When asked why intermodal transport matters, Dominik Fürste’s answer is immediate: “If you go out and go on a highway, you see congestion -  and most of it is trucks, congesting the roads and creating significant CO2 emissions.” Compared to road freight, rail produces around nine times less CO2 per tonne-kilometre and uses about six times less energy than other land transport modes. While infrastructure exist, Fürste explains that access remains the key barrier: "If it's not easy, companies will stay with road transport." This is the gap LIFE FIT set out to close. Backed by the LIFE Programme and supported by LIFE close-to- market (C2M) initative, the company launched the Intermodal Capacity Broker (ICB) - a platform allowing freight forwarders to enter a postcode and instantly find bookable rail connections across Europe, connecting both sides of the market simultaneously. “We gave truck forwarders, who are not used to rail access to intermodal transport in just a few clicks," says Fürste. By the end of the LIFE FIT project, the ICB platform had reached significant scale - more than 9,500 bookable lanes across Europe; 37 intermodal operators covering 32 countries; routes extending beyond the EU to Turkey and China; 115,000 litres of diesel saved through modal shift to rail, and cost reductions of 10-20% on routes shifted from road to rail. One example illustrates the dual benefit - regular battery shipment from Hamburg to Nuremberg (around 600 km) was moved fully to rail via the ICB. The forwarder reduced transport costs by 20%, eliminated CO2 emissions, and maintained the same transit time. “Rail doesn't necessarily mean higher costs,” Fürste notes. “You might even pay less because there is mass transport capability. So, you get both emission savings and economic benefits - the best of both worlds.” LIFE Programme funding enabled Rail-Flow to develop its platform at an early stage while maintaining both commercial and environmental objectives. “The funding helped us build the product. Without it, we most likely would not have been able to invest in this marketplace, as it can take five to ten years before transaction revenues make such platforms profitable,” says Dominik Fürste. “It allowed us to build a commercially viable product while advancing our mission of shifting transport from road to rail.” The C2M support provided valuable external perspective at a critical development stage. “We used feedback from the C2M team to adjust our market approach, which made the project more successful,” Fürste explains. He highlights the benefit of experienced advisors challenging assumptions and refining go-to-market decisions: “The C2M experts were strong sparring partners- something I can really recommend to any founder, as it broadens the solution space beyond the initial business plan.” The support for LIFE FIT focused less on detailed business planning and more on strategic positioning and market entry choices, including how to approach target audiences and prioritise early adopters. “It helps to have external experts look at your approach from the outside and assess whether it makes sense overall,” concludes Dominik Fürste. The LIFE FIT project supports the Clean Air Programme for Europe. How LIFE helps close-to-market projects LIFE close-to-market initiative supports LIFE beneficiaries in bringing their innovative green solutions to market. Beneficiaries gain access to a dedicated support team with extensive experience, offering business coaching, advisory on business strategy development, pitching presentation guidance and expert connections, among other services. Looking for support to develop your clean-tech solution and bring it to market? Check out the LIFE close-to-market webpage.