OXCCU, an Oxford College spin-out growing a one-step course of to transform waste carbon into SAF, has raised €23.7 million in an oversubscribed Sequence B funding spherical to speed up its commercialisation efforts, increase its operations, and advance its subsequent section of know-how scale-up.
The spherical consists of new buyers Orlen VC, Safran Company Ventures, Worldwide Airways Group (IAG), Hostplus, and TCVC, alongside continued help from current backers Clear Power Ventures, IP Group/Kiko Ventures, Aramco Ventures, Eni Subsequent, Braavos Capital, and the College of Oxford.
“In a market the place capital is tight and buyers are rightly selective, this elevate is a testomony to the energy of our science, the readability of our mission, and the urgency of the issue we’re fixing,” stated Andrew Symes, CEO of OXCCU. “What we’re seeing is that severe gamers with really distinctive applied sciences are nonetheless getting funded.”
OXCCU’s Sequence B is likely one of the bigger offers within the European clear fuels/carbon conversion house to this point in 2025, relative to the mid-single digit thousands and thousands extra typical of earlier-stage gamers. Whereas lots of the comparators stay at pre-Seed or Seed scale (e.g. the €2.3 million for Spark e-Fuels, or the €3.2 million for Crosstown), OXCCU is advancing into commercialisation and demonstration scale.
Its elevate displays investor urge for food for extra mature, de-risked applied sciences within the carbon-to-liquids/SAF area, significantly the place there’s a credible pathway to price discount and industrial deployment.
Notably, Catalyxx in Spain is working in a considerably associated area of interest (changing bioethanol into renewable chemical substances/SAF intermediates), so there’s a comparable echo of curiosity in Southern Europe. However not one of the comparators recognized in 2025 attain fairly the identical scale or share precisely the identical one-step carbon to hydrocarbon method.
Jonathon Counsell, Group Sustainability Director at Worldwide Airways Group (IAG), stated: “We recognise the necessity for the world to realize internet zero emissions by 2050 and for the aviation sector to play its half and to develop sustainably. IAG has been a pacesetter within the sector, being the primary airline group globally to decide to internet zero by 2050. We’re additional dedicated to our purpose of assembly 10% of our gas wants with SAF by 2030. Assembly these objectives shall be supported by this funding into OXCCU which is a part of our technique of growing new partnerships to provide next-generation fuels.”
Based in 2021, OXCCU is growing novel catalysts and reactor designs to transform waste carbon into liquid hydrocarbons with excessive conversion and selectivity to be used as fuels and chemical substances.
The brand new capital builds on the launch of the corporate’s OX1 demonstration plant at London Oxford Airport in 2024. Their second demonstration plant, OX2, is underway and shall be totally operational in 2026.
The announcement comes at a time of rising regulatory momentum and market demand for sustainable fuels. Nonetheless, regardless of mandates such because the UK SAF mandate and ReFuelEU, the corporate says excessive manufacturing prices stay a significant barrier to widespread adoption.
Ireneusz Fąfara, President of the Administration Board of ORLEN, added: “We spend money on the applied sciences of tomorrow to successfully rework our enterprise. This yr, we launched SAF – sustainable aviation gas produced from renewable and waste uncooked supplies – into our providing. Consistent with our technique, by 2035 we purpose to turn into one of many main producers of SAF in Europe.
“Supporting the achievement of this purpose is a brand new funding by ORLEN VC within the know-how of OXCCU, an organization enabling the conversion of inexperienced hydrogen and carbon dioxide into artificial aviation gas. Its commercialisation will strengthen our market competitiveness and help our pursuit of carbon neutrality.”
The funding displays rising recognition that driving down SAF manufacturing prices is vital to unlocking aviation decarbonisation at scale.
OXCCU’s course of simplifies SAF manufacturing pathways by eliminating the necessity for reverse water gasoline shift or e-methanol steps. As an alternative, its patented iron-based catalyst allows the direct synthesis of jet-fuel-range hydrocarbons from gaseous waste carbon in a single exothermic response.
This reportedly reduces capital and working prices, and reduces the carbon depth of the gas.
The catalyst’s capacity to function with a variety of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and hydrogen enter gasoline compositions offers it the flexibleness to effectively convert totally different feedstocks resembling reformed biogas, gasified wooden waste, and pure carbon dioxide with hydrogen.
“This can be a vital time for ClimateTech, because the urgency continues to extend,” added Symes. “Aviation wants an answer, and the intense lever is SAF. The problem is SAF price and that’s precisely what we’re addressing at OXCCU.”
EU-Startups beforehand lined OXCCU’s €20.6 million funding round in 2023.
