Energy Floors, the Rotterdam company behind dance floors that generate electricity from dancers' movement, is bankrupt after its revenue fell by half, director Michel Smit says.
Credit: this report is based on a story first published by RTL Z. Read the original at rtl.nl.
According to RTL Z, Energy Floors supplied its floors to nightclubs, events and the British band Coldplay. Smit is now working with trustee Pier Beerda to find a party that could take the business over and allow a restart.
From Sustainable Dance Club to Energy Floors
The company was founded in 2008 as Sustainable Dance Club (SDC) by Smit, an architecture firm and an incubator. It developed a floor made of tiles that sink slightly and spring back under changing pressure, turning that movement into electricity. The output is not enough to power a club or a concert, but it can run features such as light effects.
The first installation went into Rotterdam club Watt, the former Nighttown, in 2008. In 2022 Coldplay picked the company up, and it has toured with the band since then, running 40 to 50 projects a year, Smit told RTL Z.
The business also sold tiles that combined movement generation with solar cells, and looked at other uses, including school playgrounds and public buildings such as train stations and airports. That broader focus led to the Energy Floors name.
The numbers behind the collapse
After a reorganisation in 2023, the company dropped its solar floors and continued in slimmed-down form, with fewer employees and lower costs. Smit says that initially went well, but 2025 turned into a disastrous year: requests kept coming in, yet many projects did not go ahead.
He links that to pressure on his customers. "Festivals and events are struggling, which halved our revenue," he said (translated from Dutch). The company tried to make up the shortfall this year but did not have the buffer to absorb it.
Smit puts revenue at more than half a million euros a year in good years and around half a million in bad years.
Looking for a buyer
Smit hopes that new investors or partners will step in through a partnership or a takeover. He and the trustee are looking for a party that could take the floor maker under its wing, for example a company supplying equipment or software to events, or one active in smart buildings.
Original source: RTL Z, "Bankroet voor bedrijf dat duurzame dansvloeren leverde aan Coldplay"
