Infinium, a sustainable liquid fuel company, is planning a capital raise this year, CEO Robert Schuetzle said.
The Sacramento, California-based company, which makes environmentally friendly diesel, aviation fuel and naphtha using CO2 and renewable energy, will soon announce the “major global bank” that will coordinate the round, he said. The executive declined to disclose how much money it would like to raise but noted it aims to close the round by year end.
It expects the round to see a mix of existing and new investors, he said. It has raised total capital in the "low nine digits," he added. Its capital structure includes Amazon’s [NASDAQ:AMZN] Climate Pledge Fund, NextEra Energy Resources, AP Ventures, 8090 Partners, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries [TYO:7011], and Pavilion Capital.
Infinium will use the new for R&D, grow its team, and continue developing its project pipeline, Schuetzle said. The company has more than a dozen projects globally in various stages of completion, with the first one scheduled to come online in a few months, he noted. That project and several more are in Texas due to the state’s favorable regulatory regime and its proximity to big industrial and energy emitters, he said.
Capital requirements for its projects range from the hundreds of millions to the low billions, the CEO said. Customers sometimes participate in financing these ventures, as in its Reuze project in Dunkirk, France, where Engie [EPA:ENGI] and ArcelorMittal [AMS:MT] not only serve as the integrator and CO2 supplier, respectively, but are also financing partners, he noted.
Given that the efuels market is not mature enough to support traditional project financing, Infinium plans to finance some projects on its balance sheets and others with third parties, the executive said. Many infrastructure investment firms have been raising ESG or energy transition funds and may be interested in financing some of the company’s projects, he added.
Its current portfolio could produce 80,000 barrels of sustainable fuel products per day, he said, declining to provide a specific timeline.
Unlike biofuel companies that compete for feedstocks, Infinium uses CO2 that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere, the CEO said. On top of that, regulators in the UK and Europe are working to phase out some of the more damaging elements of biofuels, he noted, adding that Germany has banned the use of palm oil as a feedstock for biofuels because it causes deforestation.
Additionally, the Inflation Reduction Act provides tax credits and subsidies for various sustainable fuels, he added.
Infinium started out in 2020 as the efuels subsidiary of gas-to-liquids technology company Greyrock Energy. It announced its Series A raise and new name in early 2021.
