A UK-based clean-tech venture capital fund, Clean Growth Fund (also backed by Open Utility), has invested £2.6 million in HydRegen, a biotechnology company based in Oxford.
The Oxford-based company will use the funds to support its commercial development and deployment of its technologies over the next 18 months.
HydRegen plans to license its technology to pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturers worldwide and expand its team over the next year.
Dr Holly Reeve, CEO of HydRegen said: “The HydRegen Team is hugely excited to embark on the next stage of our journey and to add CGF’s considerable expertise in clean tech to our commercial strategy. This funding will speed up the development of our greener and less wasteful bio-based manufacturing technologies, allowing us to help chemical companies to reduce their environmental impact and carbon footprint whilst also reducing their costs. HydRegen’s vision is to become part of the ‘advanced manufacturing toolbox’ across the global chemical manufacturing industry, enabling companies to meet their Net Zero goals.”
Decarbonising global chemical manufacturing and pharmaceutical industries
Founded in 2021 as a spin-out from the University of Oxford, HydRegen is focused on developing bio-based catalysts that can enable cleaner, safer, and more energy-efficient manufacturing processes in the global pharmaceutical and chemicals industries.
The company’s goal is to deploy its innovative biotechnologies to transition to a low-carbon economy with more sustainable and efficient chemical manufacturing processes.
HydRegen’s bio-based catalysts offer an environmentally and economically friendly
alternative to toxic metal catalysts that come with high economic, environmental, and social costs. By reducing the temperatures and pressures required in chemical syntheses.
Dr. Jonathan Tudor, Investment Partner at Clean Growth Fund said: “The potential for HydRegen to revolutionise and decarbonise the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors is off-the-scale, and we are understandably excited about the company’s future.”
“HydRegen is in Clean Growth Fund’s investment sweet spot: a proven clean technology – originated in the UK, with huge potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – millions of tonnes of CO₂ can be saved per year if adopted in multiple processes, a sizeable market opportunity and a first-class team, led by Holly Reeve and Sarah Cleary. With the support of Carbon Limiting Technologies, our sister company, Clean Growth Fund is looking forward to working with the HydRegen team in realising their ambitions.”
