UK startup Rivan secures €28.7 million funding to revolutionize synthetic fuel production in Europe

Rivan Secures €28.7 Million Funding to Scale Synthetic Fuel Production in Europe

Rivan, a startup based in the UK, has successfully raised €28.7 million (£25 million) to expand its domestic synthetic fuel production in Europe. The funding round was led by IQ Capital, with support from Plural. This latest round follows the company’s previous Seed round of €11.4 million (£10 million), which was raised 10 months earlier and also led by Plural, with participation from 20VC, NFDG (Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross), as well as angel investors Patrick and John Collison from Stripe.

Founded in 2024 by Harvey Hodd, Rivan specializes in developing synthetic fuels for industries that cannot easily transition to electric power on a large scale, all while maintaining competitive pricing with traditional fossil fuels. The company aims to drive down the cost of synthetic fuels to make them more affordable than fossil fuels for heavy industries such as steel, cement, chemicals, and aviation, ultimately reducing CO2 emissions significantly.

According to Rivan, the need for domestically produced synthetic fuels is crucial in Europe, where nearly 60% of energy is imported, leaving the continent vulnerable to price fluctuations and supply disruptions. Recent events, such as the Middle East conflict that caused a doubling of wholesale gas prices, have underscored the urgency of securing local energy sources for countries like the UK, France, Germany, and Spain.

Rivan’s strategy involves focusing on Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG) production to meet industrial demand in countries like the UK, Spain, and France. By vertically integrating every aspect of the production process, from renewable energy generation and CO2 extraction to reactor synthesis and gas-grid injection, the company aims to achieve unprecedented scale and cost efficiency.

The company emphasizes its commitment to UK-based manufacturing, designing and producing all necessary hardware in-house to maintain a rapid and reliable domestic supply chain.

Since securing its Seed funding in 2025, Rivan has made significant progress, including the commissioning of its SNG plant in the UK and securing customer contracts for production until 2029. The company has also leased a new 50,000 sqft manufacturing facility, Production Base 1.

With the new funding, Rivan plans to expedite its deployment plans, enhance research and development efforts, and support the launch of its new manufacturing facility. In the coming year, the company will focus on Project Steadfast, a 15MW plant in Wiltshire that will be the largest SNG plant in Europe and the first to inject SNG into the UK gas grid. Additionally, Rivan will increase production capacity at Production Base 1 to 50MWs/yr and invest heavily in R&D areas such as direct-air capture, electrolysis, reactors, and solar technologies to compete with fossil fuel pricing within the next 2-3 years.