Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) startup Sora Fuel, which relies solely on water, air, and renewable energy for its product, announced that it has raised $6 million in a Seed round. Proceeds will be used to expand Sora’s Boston-based team, develop commercialization partnerships, and further advance the company’s technology.

SAF is considered essential for decarbonization of the hard-to-abate aviation industry, which is responsible for approximately 2.5% of global carbon emissions, although existing SAF production processes are fundamentally constrained, requiring vast amounts of energy, feedstocks, and investment to make a meaningful impact and scale production capacity.

Founded in 2024, Sora produces jet fuel using atmospheric CO2, water and energy, employing a process that combines carbon capture and utilization to dramatically reduce the amount of energy and the cost to produce SAF. The company’s solution produces syngas in a closed loop system that uses a liquid bicarbonate electrolyzer to deliver direct air capture (DAC) CO2 at just $20 per ton, converting it into fuel using only water and renewable energy. Compared to incumbent DAC solutions, Sora said its DAC-to-fuels approach dramatically reduces overall energy inputs, eliminates the need for feedstocks (other than air and water), and provides a scalable process for efficiently and cost effectively producing SAF and any other downstream products of syngas.

Gareth Ross, Co-founder and CEO of Sora Fuel, said:

“Sora Fuel’s technology eliminates 90% of the energy currently required in standard DAC processes, opening up an entirely new and more sustainable path for producing carbon negative fuels. ​Our patented, closed-loop system enables the direct generation of an economical product and overcomes widespread feedstock constraints, allowing us to produce SAF at prices comparable to current Jet A fuel.”

The Engine Ventures led the round, with Wireframe Ventures and others participating.