Karls­ruhe — INERATEC, a pioneer in the deve­lo­p­ment and produc­tion of synthe­tic fuels, has raised €118 million in a finan­cing round. This will acce­le­rate the commer­cia­liza­tion of CO2-neutral e‑fuels. The Series B venture capi­tal finan­cing is led by US inves­tor Piva Capi­tal with addi­tio­nal inter­na­tio­nal parti­ci­pa­tion from HG Ventures, TDK Ventures, Copec WIND Ventures, RockCreek, Emer­ald and Samsung Ventures, as well as increased support from exis­ting inves­tors, inclu­ding major corpo­ra­ti­ons such as ENGIE New Ventures, Safran Corpo­rate Ventures and Honda.

“This finan­cing round is an important mile­stone for INERATEC and the tran­si­tion from fossil fuels to sustainable e‑fuels. With this capi­tal, we are in a posi­tion to bring about a para­digm shift in the energy sector. Our focus is clear: we want to use this invest­ment for the global scaling of e‑fuels. In order to take concrete steps towards the next era of mobi­lity, we are plan­ning to convert 1 GW of rene­wa­ble energy into 165,000 tons of sustainable e‑fuels by 2030,” says Dr. Tim Bölt­ken, CEO of INERATEC.

Rene­wa­ble alter­na­tive for fossil fuels

Over 4,000 million tons of fossil crude oil are proces­sed into fuels and chemi­cal products every year. Much of the demand comes from indus­tries that rely on the speci­fic proper­ties of these fossil products. In avia­tion, ship­ping and the chemi­cal indus­try, a sustainable trans­for­ma­tion to rene­wa­ble mole­cu­les is ther­e­fore a key chall­enge. Without excep­tion, these sectors are curr­ently depen­dent on fossil fuels and are urgen­tly looking for rene­wa­ble alter­na­ti­ves in order to achieve their climate targets. The demand for “drop-in” e‑fuels, i.e. synthe­tic fuels produ­ced from rene­wa­ble elec­tri­city, green hydro­gen and CO2, which require little or no adapt­a­tion to the exis­ting fuel infra­struc­ture, is expec­ted to triple by 2030 and increase by 19% each year until 2050.

A pionee­ring technology

The world is moving towards clea­ner energy solu­ti­ons and INERATEC is leading the trans­for­ma­tion in the field of climate-neutral fuels. INERATEC’s scalable, paten­ted tech­no­logy enables the effi­ci­ent produc­tion of e‑fuels. The process compri­ses two main steps: First, CO2 and hydro­gen are conver­ted into a synthe­sis gas. In the second step, the corre­spon­ding fuel frac­tions are produ­ced from synthe­sis gas in a further reac­tor. The e‑fuels meet the stan­dards inten­ded for indus­tries with high fossil fuel consump­tion such as avia­tion, ship­ping and the chemi­cal industry.

Since its foun­da­tion in 2016, INERATEC has built and opera­ted nume­rous pilot plants and works with over 30 custo­mers in the respec­tive appli­ca­tion areas. The company has also won seve­ral important awards, inclu­ding the German Founder’s Prize, the Next Economy Award and the EARTO Award. INERATEC was recently selec­ted as a top inno­va­tor in the field of sustainable avia­tion fuels by UpLink, the inno­va­tion plat­form of the World Econo­mic Forum.

Expan­sion of the global impact

The new capi­tal will be used to start series produc­tion of INERATEC’s Power-to‑X plants on an indus­trial scale and to drive forward the produc­tion of e‑fuels from recy­cled CO2 and rene­wa­ble ener­gies. In addi­tion, INERATEC has begun cons­truc­tion of its largest plant to date in Frank­furt and conti­nues to expand through inter­na­tio­nal projects, such as in the Nether­lands and Chile. This expan­sion will increase produc­tion by a factor of 1,500, with over 12,000,000 tons of CO2 being recy­cled annu­ally. In addi­tion, the tech­no­logy is to be used world­wide — where­ver CO2 and rene­wa­ble energy are available.

“INERATEC’s breakth­rough tech­no­logy is the most promi­sing e‑fuels solu­tion we have seen to date for the most diffi­cult to decar­bo­nize sectors such as avia­tion, ship­ping and chemi­cals. The company not only produ­ces e‑fuels. Its reac­tors are more effi­ci­ent, scalable and enable the indus­try to convert excess CO2, green elec­trons and hydro­gen to meet a wide range of needs. From fuels for cars, airplanes and ships to green chemi­cals for our daily needs. We believe that INERATEC has the best solu­tion to change the indus­try. In this way, we can achieve our common goal of moving away from fossil fuels,” explains Adzmel Adznan, foun­ding part­ner at Piva Capi­tal.

The inves­tor consor­tium for the Series B finan­cing round consists of:

Planet A Ventures, MPC, High-Tech Grün­der­fonds, FO Holding, Safran Corpo­rate Ventures, Honda, ENGIE New Ventures, HG Ventures, TDK, Copec WIND Ventures, RockCreek, Emer­ald , Samsung Ventures, Piva Capital.

About INERATEC

INERATEC is a pioneer in the field of power-to-liquid appli­ca­ti­ons. The company supplies sustainable e‑fuels and chemi­cal products. In modu­lar chemi­cal plants for power-to‑X and gas-to-liquid appli­ca­ti­ons, hydro­gen is used to produce e‑kerosene, CO2-neutral gaso­line, clean diesel or synthe­tic waxes, metha­nol or SNG from rene­wa­ble elec­tri­city and green­house gases such as CO2. Foun­ded in 2016, the company has alre­ady imple­men­ted large-scale power-to-liquid plants at German loca­ti­ons in order to increase the avai­la­bi­lity of sustainable fuels and chemi­cals in various trans­port sectors such as avia­tion. Further infor­ma­tion can be found at www.ineratec.com.

About Piva Capital

Piva Capi­tal is a San Fran­cisco-based venture capi­tal firm that invests in visio­nary entre­pre­neurs who are solving the world’s criti­cal indus­trial chal­lenges with breakth­rough tech­no­lo­gies and inno­va­tive busi­ness models. www.Piva.vc

About High-Tech Gründerfonds

The seed inves­tor High-Tech Grün­der­fonds (HTGF) finan­ces tech­no­logy start-ups with growth poten­tial and has supported more than 700 start-ups since 2005. With the launch of the fourth fund, HTGF has around 1.4 billion euros under manage­ment. The team of expe­ri­en­ced invest­ment mana­gers and start-up experts supports the young compa­nies with know-how, entre­pre­neu­rial spirit and passion. The focus is on high-tech start-ups in the fields of digi­tal tech, indus­trial tech, life scien­ces, chemis­try and rela­ted busi­ness areas. To date, exter­nal inves­tors have inves­ted around EUR 5 billion in the HTGF port­fo­lio in more than 2,000 follow-on finan­cing rounds. In addi­tion, the fund has alre­ady successfully sold shares in more than 170 companies.
The fund inves­tors in the public-private part­ner­ship include the German Fede­ral Minis­try for Econo­mic Affairs and Climate Protec­tion, KfW Capi­tal and 45 compa­nies from a wide range of sectors . www.htgf.de