Metafuels, a start-up focused on sustainable aviation fuel made using renewable electricity (eSAF), announced its first institutional funding round—an $8-million seed round—led by climate VCs Energy Impact Partners (EIP) and Contrarian Ventures.

Metafuels’ eSAF, and that of its competitors, can replace normal kerosene regardless of the size and type of aircraft or whether it operates short-haul or long-haul. But unlike its competitors in this space, Metafuels’ approach achieves the lowest cost of production through high efficiency and ultra-high yield of SAF, the company says.

Similarly, the technology has high environmental performance through an up to 90% reduction of life cycle emissions and not chipping away at food and feed supply chains.

The Zurich-based startup will use the proceeds from the funding round to set up a pilot facility at the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), with which the company recently announced a collaboration.

Metafuels’ eSAF technology uses a proprietary process for the conversion of green methanol to eSAF. Green methanol is produced from green hydrogen (H₂) and sustainably-sourced carbon dioxide. Green H₂ can be generated from water electrolysis driven by renewable electricity, while CO₂ can be captured from biogenic sources including wastes and residues in the short-term and through direct air capture in the long-term.

Unlike many of its competitors, Metafuels is focused on a technology that produces jet fuel as its primary output. This highly selective approach ultimately enables a higher yield which, together with high energy efficiency, allows industry-leading cost of production to be achieved. It also concentrates the use of valuable, sustainably-sourced carbon and renewable electricity into one product, rather than co-producing various other renewable hydrocarbons as by-products—such as gasoline or diesel—for markets that are contracting.

Metafuels believes the move towards green mandates—the rising cost of conventional fuels and inevitable environmental taxation—and stakeholder demands will counterbalance the shorter-term additional cost of producing its eSAF.