Sora Fuel, a startup producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) using only water, air and renewable energy, has raised an oversubscribed $6 million seed round.
The Engine Ventures led the round, with Wireframe Ventures and others participating. The funding will be used to expand Sora Fuel’s Boston-based team, develop commercialization partnerships and further advance the company’s novel technology, according to a news release.
Sora Fuel offers a new path for producing SAF by capturing and using atmospheric CO2 at costs that are an order of magnitude lower than existing processes. The company’s novel technology includes a liquid bicarbonate electrolyzer that delivers direct air capture (DAC) CO2 at just $20 per ton, operating in a fully closed-loop system that uses only water and renewable electricity to produce syngas. Compared to incumbent DAC solutions, Sora Fuel’s DAC-to-fuels approach dramatically reduces overall energy inputs, eliminates the need for feedstocks (other than air and water), and provides a scalable process for efficiently and cost effectively producing SAF and any other downstream products of syngas.
“Sora Fuel’s technology eliminates 90% of the energy currently required in standard DAC processes, opening up an entirely new and more sustainable path for producing carbon negative fuels,” said Gareth Ross, co-founder and CEO of Sora Fuel. “Our patented, closed-loop system enables the direct generation of an economical product and overcomes widespread feedstock constraints, allowing us to produce SAF at prices comparable to current Jet A fuel.”
“There’s no path to meeting our climate goals without managing to reduce the carbon intensity of aviation. Fuels are the backbone of that sector because of their energy density, and decarbonizing fuels requires new pathways for capturing and utilizing CO2 to scalably produce SAF,” added Michael Kearney, General Partner at Engine Ventures and Sora Fuel Board member.
Sora Fuel was conceived within The Engine Ventures based on technology from Curtis Berlinguette’s lab at the University of British Columbia. The company’s Chief Science Officer, Patrick Sarver, earned a PhD in Chemistry from Princeton University, completed his postdoctoral research at MIT and worked as a Venture Associate at The Engine Ventures prior to co-founding Sora Fuel. Ross was previously an Executive in Residence at The Engine Ventures, supporting portfolio companies across the clean energy landscape and spent 15 years as an executive at MassMutual, where he most recently oversaw technology and operations.
Sora Fuel is actively hiring for its Boston-based team, and initiating partnerships and offtake agreements with purchasers of jet fuel.
