Sora Fuel closes $14.6m to develop pilot facility
Boston-based climate technology company Sora Fuel announced successful closing of $14.6m round to scale air-to-jet fuel technology.
“We’ve gone further, faster, and with less capital than anyone in the e‑fuels space,” said Gareth Ross, CEO and co-founder of Sora Fuel. “With this funding, we accelerate our path to production-scale manufacturing of our fuel, bringing the aviation industry one enormous step closer to truly affordable, carbon-negative fuel.”
The round was co-led by Spero Ventures and Inspired Capital, alongside super pro-rata investments from Engine Ventures and Wireframe Ventures.
Sora’s technology system can capture CO2 directly from ambient air and convert it into syngas in a single integrated step - co-producing hydrogen. The system completely bypasses energy-intensive sorbent regeneration that accounts for over 90% of the cost and capital in conventional direct air capture (DAC).
The new capital will fund the construction and operation of Sora Fuel’s pilot production facility which the company expects to complete within 18 to 24 months.
“Sora Fuel has built something the clean fuels industry has been searching for: a technology that can actually reach unsubsidized cost parity with fossil fuels,” said Marc Tarpenning, venture partner at Spero Ventures, Sora Fuel board member, and co-founder of Tesla.
“The team has demonstrated exceptional scientific rigor and engineering execution. Their approach to direct air capture and fuel synthesis is, to our knowledge, the first that makes an economically viable air-to-fuels pathway genuinely credible. We’re proud to lead this round.”
Sora Fuel’s technology and economics – captured carbon at less than $50 per ton, roughly one-tenth the cost of conventional DAC approaches, and a realistic pathway to SAF at under $5 per gallon – have already generated partnership and offtake interest from leading global energy companies, airlines, and aviation OEMs.