Zurich-based Metafuels has closed a $24 million Series A funding round to accelerate the commercial deployment of its aerobrew methanol-to-jet (MtJ) technology — a synthetic pathway designed to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at scale without the feedstock constraints that limit conventional biofuel routes.
The round is led by UVC Partners, a Munich-based venture capital firm managing over €600 million in assets, with continued participation from Energy Impact Partners (EIP), Contrarian Ventures, RockCreek, Verve Ventures, and Fortescue Ventures. The raise follows a $22 million cumulative funding base, including a $5 million grant from the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, making Metafuels one of Europe’s best-capitalised SAF startups.
The new capital will be deployed across three workstreams: advancing Turbe, the company’s first commercial eSAF facility at the Port of Rotterdam, through FEED toward Final Investment Decision; progressing additional planned facilities in Switzerland and Denmark; and building the engineering, delivery, and operational foundations needed for multi-plant deployment across Europe as SAF mandates accelerate from 2030.
If sustainable aviation fuel is to become a true alternative to fossil jet fuel, it has to work at industrial scale and competitive cost. Methanol-to-jet makes that possible. — Saurabh Kapoor, CEO, Metafuels
“If sustainable aviation fuel is to become a true alternative to fossil jet fuel, it has to work at industrial scale and competitive cost,” said Saurabh Kapoor, CEO of Metafuels. “Methanol-to-jet makes that possible. With aerobrew, we are building a technology that allows airlines to decarbonise without changing how they operate — and that has the potential to fundamentally reshape the future of flight. This round is about execution.”
Metafuels’ differentiator within the eSAF field is cost leadership through yield efficiency. Its aerobrew process converts renewable methanol — produced either from sustainable biomass or via green hydrogen combined with captured CO₂ — into drop-in jet fuel with up to 90% lower lifecycle emissions than fossil kerosene. Crucially, aerobrew is not constrained by the limited supplies of used cooking oil and waste fats that cap the growth of today’s dominant HEFA pathway.
The ASTM accreditation process for methanol-to-jet synthetic paraffinic kerosene (SPK) — the certified fuel class produced by aerobrew — is progressing toward completion, with approval expected in early 2026. That certification is required for large-scale commercial offtake and represents a key near-term milestone for the entire methanol-to-jet pathway.
“This investment round is about progressing the implementation of a unique technology that has the potential to scale and drive down costs of SAF to a point where it becomes an economical alternative to fossil fuel,” said Johannes von Borries, Managing Partner at UVC Partners. “Metafuels has the potential to drive that shift — fundamentally changing how aviation grows and how people think about flying.”
Source: Metafuels
