Oxccu takes flight with $22.7 million to fuel sustainable aviation fuel operation

A research come commercial entity, Oxccu came from the hive mind of University of Oxford researchers, in the UK. The carbon-to-value company which converts carbon dioxide and hydrogen into industrial and consumer products - namely, sustainable aviation fuel - has raised $22.7 million in a Series A round. Funds will allow Oxccu to scale-up the technology, expand its facilities, and double its team in the UK.

Oxccu’s sustainable aviation fuel, Oxefueltm, is created by combining captured carbon dioxide and renewably-sourced green hydrogen through a novel catalyst - a cost effective, decarbonised alternative jet fuel.

And if you are into the technical specifics - 'its technology consolidates the traditional e-hydrocarbons production process from a two-step Reverse Water Gas Shift (RWGS) and Fischer Tropsch (F-T) reaction to a one-step catalytic conversion'.

“This breakthrough is exactly what we need to turn the emerging SAF market into reality and cost-effectively cut carbon emissions from fuel production at scale,” says Daniel Goldman, co-founder and Managing Partner of Clean Energy Ventures. “Oxccu’s process is unique in the emerging SAF industry based on our evaluation of dozens of technologies. We see extraordinary potential for this technology to mitigate new aviation fuel production emissions at gigaton-scale in the near-future, and we are pleased to lead an extraordinary consortium of industry leaders to support the company in its commercialisation and deployment.”

The Series A round was led by Clean Energy Ventures with participation from Aramco Ventures, Eni Next, (the corporate venture arm of Italian energy company Eni) United Airlines Ventures Sustainable Flight Fund, and Braavos Capital alongside existing investor Kiko Ventures, with University of Oxford, Trafigura, TechEnergy Ventures and Doral Energy-Tech Ventures also participating in the round.  

“Sustainable aviation fuel is the best tool we have to decarbonise air travel, but we continue to face a significant supply shortage,” says United Airlines Ventures President Michael Leskinen. “The technology developed by Oxccu has the potential to resolve our supply problem by using CO2 as a feedstock to produce fuel. This cutting-edge solution could be a cost-effective pathway for United to reach our commitment of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, without relying on traditional carbon offsets.”

“At Oxccu, we’re inspired by the prospect of crossing the Atlantic using sustainable aviation fuel,” says Oxccu CEO Andrew Symes. “We’ve built an extraordinary team of senior scientists, engineers and operators, and now backed by this experienced group of investors, we are confident we can scale this technology into a cost-competitive and globally deployable solution to create a sustainable drop-in product for the global aviation market.”