UK – HutanBio, a Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, UK-based biotechnology company, raised £2.25M in funding.
The round was led by Clean Growth Fund.The company intends to use the funds for the expansion of its engineering and business development teams in Cambridge, and accelerate the commercial use of its HBx bio-fuel oil, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Founded by John Archer PhD, Noor Azlin Mokhtar PhD and Suhaiza Jamhor in 2019, and led by CEO Paul Beastall, HutanBio is a biotechnology company that provides an HBx bio-oil, which is a sustainable and scalable high energy density, low carbon, sulphur-free fuel solution, that uses CO₂ greenhouse gas as a feedstock for algae that are grown in special “bio-reactor farms”. These farms, designed and engineered by HutanBio and controlled by Artificial Intelligence to optimise yields, will be built on unproductive and non-agricultural semi-arid and arid land in countries where there are high levels of sunlight. Commenting on the news, Paul Beastall said: “We have designed HBx from the outset to blend seamlessly with existing infrastructure and supply chains. It requires no engine or vessel modification, meaning adoption of HBx can be immediate and without affecting operational efficiency. Vessel life can be maximised whilst carbon emissions are reduced without changing ship and port operations which is crucial for rapid deployment.”18/01/2024
