TDK Corporation have just announced that subsidiary TDK Ventures, Inc. has participated in German pioneering e-fuel company INERATEC's Series B funding round.
Led by Piva Capital, other investors include HG Ventures, Copec WIND Ventures, The Rock Creek Group, Emerald Ventures, and Samsung Ventures, as well as current investors, including large corporate investors ENGIE New Ventures, Safran Ventures, and Honda Motors. With signed commitments for the round totalling more than $129 million (USD), the influx will accelerate production and commercialization of the company's carbon-neutral e-fuel.
INERATEC's technological advancement is a scalable patented microstructure reactor technology that enables the production of 'drop-in' e-fuels. The process involves reacting CO2 with low-carbon hydrogen to make synthesis gas, which is then converted in another micro structured reactor into hydrocarbons.
The resulting renewable e-fuels are then targeted at industries that rely heavily on fossil fuels, such as aviation, shipping, road transport, and the chemical industry, all known as hard-to-abate sectors that are major contributors to the world's greenhouse gas emissions. "Every year, more than 4,000 million tons of fossil crude oil worldwide are processed into fuels and chemical products with much of the demand coming from hard-to-abate industries," commented Nicolas Sauvage, TDK Ventures President.
"We believe INERATEC's innovative technology for producing e-fuels is the best solution and highly suited for the myriad of applications within this sector. We are delighted to be a part of INERATEC Series B funding and eager to see its technology at work in helping the world reduce or negate its dependency on fossil fuels."
Hard-to-abate industries are desperately seeking renewable alternatives to achieve carbon-neutral goals. The demand for 'drop-in' e-fuels – or synthetic fuels – for use in combustion engines that require little to no adjustments relative to existing fuel infrastructure, is expected to triple by 2030, reaching $13.6 trillion by 2050, expanding at a CAGR of 19.0% over the forecast period 2023-2050.
CEO of INERATEC, Tim Boeltken, said: "We are grateful for TDK Ventures' participation in our Series B funding. They bring a lot to the table with their emphasis on scaling entrepreneurs and focus on sustainability and hard-tech projects.
“Transitioning from fossil fuels to sustainable e-fuels is a major undertaking. TDK Ventures has shown it is fully committed to doing whatever it takes to make it successful and profitable." INERATEC will use this new capital to start the mass production of its industrial-scale Power-to-X plants worldwide and advance the production of e-fuels made from recycled CO2 and renewable energy.
Additionally, the company has begun construction of its largest plant to date in Frankfurt and is expanding through international projects in the Netherlands and Chile. This expansion will yield a 1,500x increase in production, recycling over 12,000,000 metric tons of CO2 annually.
Beyond that, the technology will be implemented globally, wherever CO2 and renewable energy are available. INERATEC represents TDK Ventures' first investment from its $150 million Fund EX1, a fund the firm launched in mid-2023 to back early-stage leaders in energy transition, electrification, and decarbonization within the U.S. and Europe.
