We report what are to our knowledge the first measurements of an x-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectrum of solvated iron pentacarbonyl by use of an ultrafast laser-driven plasma x-ray source. This source is operating at a 2-kHz repetition rate. Hard x radiation that might falsify the XANES measurements is suppressed by an x-ray optical setup that consists of a fiber-optic lens and a silicon single crystal.