Finland-based deeptech Reduciner has raised €3.6 million in its first funding round, combining equity backing from Voima Ventures, Lifeline Ventures, and the Mikko Kodisoja Foundation.
The startup is focused on solving a persistent industrial challenge of what to do with unavoidable carbon emissions. It emerged from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, one of Europe’s leading research institutions, in 2025, founded by Johanna Grönroos, Eemeli Tsupari and Sampsa Vuori.
At the core of its approach is a high-temperature thermochemical process that converts captured carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide using renewable electricity and biogenic carbon. Since carbon monoxide integrates easily into existing industrial systems, companies can adopt the solution without expensive infrastructure overhauls.
“On a global scale, CO2 emissions from the lime and cement industry are bigger than those from aviation and marine transport combined. With this technology, it is possible to replace fossil fuels of these industries site by site, depending on the availability of green electricity and grid connection, while also improving cost competitiveness,” says Tsupari.
Competition in the carbon-to-fuel sector is growing across Europe, with players like Elyse Energy, Liquid Sun, and Electrochaea converting CO₂ into fuels using hydrogen or biocatalysis, while OXCCU focuses on direct jet fuel synthesis and Synhelion uses solar-driven processes.
Reduciner improves economics through higher efficiency and valuable co-products such as activated carbon, reducing reliance on subsidies or on expensive inputs like hydrogen.
“Most technologies that seek to replace fossil fuels with more sustainable ones require rebuilding of infrastructure. Reduciner’s technology converts CO2 into CO, which is compatible with existing machinery, allowing the solution to be deployed faster and more cost-efficiently,” says Johanna Grönroos, co-founder and CEO of Reduciner.
“What makes Reduciner stand out from other deep tech companies aiming to develop sustainable fuel alternatives is that with our process, the sustainability impacts are reached profitably from the very beginning,” Grönroos adds.
Reduciner is targeting hard-to-abate sectors such as cement, steel, pulp, and lime, industries where emissions are often unavoidable. In lime production, for example, captured carbon dioxide can be converted and reused as fuel within the same process, effectively creating a closed carbon loop. Given the global scale of these industries, the potential impact on emissions reduction is substantial.
“Reduciner stands out because it is already doing what many industrial climate companies can so far only promise on paper: validating the technology while advancing commercial discussions and solving real customers’ problems. For Voima Ventures, that combination matters. When you have breakthrough science, early proof that the solution works, and ongoing negotiations that show clear market pull, you have the foundation of a very compelling company. This is the reason we at Voima Ventures are backing the team,” says Pontus Stråhlman, Partner at Voima Ventures.
“What’s rare about Reduciner is how much is already in place at the spin-out stage — advanced commercial discussions, a first deployment model with partners, and a team that spans the full stack from science to finance. We’re excited to be part of this from the start,” says Juha Lindfors, Managing Partner at Lifeline Ventures.
The funding will support the construction of its first industrial-scale pilot, a 1MW facility in Finland, as the company moves toward commercial deployment, followed by international expansion before 2030.
