Key Takeaways
- • HydRegen, an Oxford, UK and San Francisco-based biotechnology company, closed $8 million (£6 million) in the first close of its Series A financing, according to a Business Wire announcement.
- • Genoa Ventures led the round, with participation from Clean Growth Fund and First Imagine! Ventures, and additional support from Oxford Technology Management, Headington Holdings, Oxonian, Foxglove Capital and Rapid Innovation Group.
- • HydRegen claims its enzyme-based catalyst platform can make chemical manufacturing up to 40% more cost-effective while lowering carbon emissions, as a drop-in replacement for precious-metal catalysts in existing plants.
- • The company produces a hydrogenase enzyme through fermentation and formulates it into catalyst platforms that can perform hundreds of hydrogenation reactions, a step the company says is essential to 14 to 20% of processes in the trillion-dollar industrial chemicals market.
- • Proceeds will fund expansion with existing pharmaceutical and specialty chemical customers and new adoption across chemicals, agrochemicals, materials and bulk chemicals.
Summary
HydRegen has closed $8 million (£6 million) in the first close of its Series A financing, according to the company's announcement distributed via Business Wire. Genoa Ventures led the round, with participation from Clean Growth Fund and First Imagine! Ventures. Oxford Technology Management, Headington Holdings, Oxonian, Foxglove Capital and Rapid Innovation Group also provided additional support. The company said the capital will allow it to expand work with existing pharmaceutical and specialty chemical customers and accelerate adoption among new customers in chemicals, agrochemicals, materials and bulk chemicals.
The company positions its technology against conventional precious-metal catalyzed hydrogenation, which it describes as energy-intensive, difficult to optimize and increasingly hard to operate under tightening environmental and regulatory requirements. HydRegen produces a hydrogenase enzyme by fermentation and formulates it into proprietary catalyst platforms that can perform hundreds of different hydrogenation reactions. The company says its catalyst can be introduced as a drop-in to existing infrastructure, where it can turn over millions of times, without requiring customers to redesign or rebuild plants. HydRegen states that its approach can deliver up to 40% cost savings and lower emissions.
Chief executive and co-founder Holly Reeve, PhD, said manufacturers can change the catalyst without changing the factory. Jenny Rooke, PhD, founder and managing director of Genoa Ventures, said the firm saw strong science, solid economics, a path to scale, capital efficiency and demonstrated customer demand in the company. The investment is intended to take the platform into higher-volume markets and additional applications.
The company's claims, including the 40% cost reduction and the 14 to 20% share of industrial chemical processes, are company-stated and have not been independently verified in the announcement. Genoa Ventures, founded in 2018, manages over $150 million and is investing out of its third fund. Clean Growth Fund, set up in 2020, focuses on UK climate tech, and First Imagine! Ventures, founded in 2016, is a European investor focused on the energy transition.
The company positions its technology against conventional precious-metal catalyzed hydrogenation, which it describes as energy-intensive, difficult to optimize and increasingly hard to operate under tightening environmental and regulatory requirements. HydRegen produces a hydrogenase enzyme by fermentation and formulates it into proprietary catalyst platforms that can perform hundreds of different hydrogenation reactions. The company says its catalyst can be introduced as a drop-in to existing infrastructure, where it can turn over millions of times, without requiring customers to redesign or rebuild plants. HydRegen states that its approach can deliver up to 40% cost savings and lower emissions.
Chief executive and co-founder Holly Reeve, PhD, said manufacturers can change the catalyst without changing the factory. Jenny Rooke, PhD, founder and managing director of Genoa Ventures, said the firm saw strong science, solid economics, a path to scale, capital efficiency and demonstrated customer demand in the company. The investment is intended to take the platform into higher-volume markets and additional applications.
The company's claims, including the 40% cost reduction and the 14 to 20% share of industrial chemical processes, are company-stated and have not been independently verified in the announcement. Genoa Ventures, founded in 2018, manages over $150 million and is investing out of its third fund. Clean Growth Fund, set up in 2020, focuses on UK climate tech, and First Imagine! Ventures, founded in 2016, is a European investor focused on the energy transition.
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