HydRegen, a spinout from the University of Oxford’s Department of Chemistry, has secured $8 million (£6 million) in the first close of its Series A funding round to accelerate the adoption of its sustainable biocatalytic technology across the chemical manufacturing industry. The latest investment follows £2.6 million in funding secured by HydRegen in 2023 to support the commercial development of its technology.
Founded in 2021 by Professor Kylie Vincent and Dr Holly Reeve, HydRegen builds on more than a decade of research in Oxford Chemistry. The company has developed enzyme-based catalysts that can replace expensive precious-metal catalysts in chemical manufacturing, potentially reducing costs by up to 40% and carbon emissions by 30%.
The technology can be integrated into existing manufacturing infrastructure, offering a more sustainable and cost-effective approach to producing pharmaceuticals, speciality chemicals and other industrial products.
“Chemical manufacturing has been built around precious-metal catalysts for decades, creating an enormous global infrastructure optimized to use them. Biology can now perform many of the same reactions under far milder conditions, but asking manufacturers to abandon that infrastructure would hinder widespread adoption,” said Holly Reeve, CEO and co-founder of HydRegen. “We approached the problem differently. We made biology operate like chemistry, creating biocatalyst-based technology platforms that can drop into the equipment and processes manufacturers already use. Manufacturers can change the catalyst without changing the factory, opening a path to make chemical manufacturing both less expensive and more sustainable at scale.”
Find out more at hydregenoxford.com.
