Metafuels, a developer of technology for sustainable aviation fuel compatible with existing aircrafts, has raised $9M in a round led by Celsius Industries.

Other new investors are RockCreek, Fortescue Ventures, Verve Ventures, with existing investors Energy Impact Partners (EIP) and Contrarian Ventures also participating. Metafuels – alongside the PSI Institute – has recently secured a $5 million grant from the Swiss Government’s Federal Office of Energy.

This takes the total Metafuels has raised to $22 million in just over two years, making it one of Europe’s best funded sustainable aviation fuel startups. The round follows several technological breakthroughs in 2023 and 2024, which herald the next phase of Metafuels development cycle – moving from lab research to demonstration and production scale-up. In May this year, Metafuels announced that it has signed an agreement with European Energy to set up a synthetic sustainable aviation fuel (e-SAF) facility in Denmark. The facility will produce approximately 12,000 litres of e-SAF daily.

Chairman Leigh Hackett commented: “The buyers alliance is something that we’re actively considering in support of our plans for e-SAF capacity build-out as we scale-up and industrialise our technology. By coming alongside us, participants will have privileged insights into technology developments, play an important role in bringing this much needed technology to market, all while securing increasing volumes of e-SAF to meet their decarbonisation obligations.”

Saurabh Kapoor, CEO and co-founder of Metafuels, added: “We are thrilled to have Celsius, RockCreek, Fortescue and Verve onboard as new strategic partners. We have now raised $22 million since launching, which is going to allow us to complete the demonstration programme and focus on industrialisation, and the commercial rollout for our e-SAF offering. We will be looking at implementing a number of new sustainable aviation fuel production sites and are already engaging with various stakeholders as potential investors or e-SAF off-takers.”

Michele Tarawneh, Managing Partner at Celsius Industries, said: “We have been tracking methanol-to-SAF as a key pathway to decarbonize aviation for the past 18 months, and Metafuels stands out as the most compelling player in the space: an experienced team, with a unique technology insight, and a tangible path to establish production capacity in the near-term. We are thrilled to work with Saurabh, Leigh and the team, to help them accelerate their path to industrialization and first-of-a-kind (FOAK) project finance, enabling the roll-out of mission critical infrastructure for green fuels.”