Singapore’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) startup FlyORO has successfully closed a Pre-Series A round, securing $1.6 million.
The round is led by Audacy Ventures, a venture capital firm dedicated to catalyzing and scaling technology solutions driving the energy transition, FlyORO said in a statement on Thursday.
The round also included participation from Asia-Pacific based VC Investible and other private investors, who are also advocates in the field of sustainable innovations.
Looking ahead, FlyORO plans to commence the next financing round in the second half of 2024, continuing its trajectory of innovation and commitment to sustainable aviation practices.
According to the statement, the proceeds from the pre-Series A round will be instrumental in accelerating ongoing projects and supporting FlyORO’s international expansion efforts.
The initial focus will be on strategic initiatives in both the Australian and United States markets.
FlyORO opined that the Australian market is gaining momentum in the development of SAF, leveraging its abundant feedstock resources and skilled workforce.
It said the country’s optimistic outlook includes establishing a local SAF production facility to supply carriers within the region.
Recognizing the growing opportunity, FlyORO said the firm is committed to supporting this movement.
Meanwhile, in the United States, strong incentives for sustainable aviation have positioned the nation as a leader, fostering innovative developments across various SAF technological pathways, driven by favorable legislations.
With the highest number of airport distributions and private aircraft ownership globally, FlyORO aims to initiate on early developments in the country throughout 2024.
“2023 has been a pivotal year for us. We launched with Jet Aviation as our SAF partner for our Singapore market in April, and in just seven months, we are going beyond our borders, much earlier than we expected,
Through our fundraising journey, we have been extremely meticulous in partnering with the appropriate strategic stakeholders, and we’re proud to have Audacy Ventures and Investible to join us in our pre-series A round,” said Jonathan Yeo, FlyORO’s Chief Executive Officer.
It is noted that Audacy Ventures has already made a number of strategic investments in the SAF industry, including a collaborative venture with Qantas, Airbus and LanzaJet, aimed at propelling the Australian market in the SAF sector.
The addition of FlyORO to their portfolio further enhances the strength of their devotion towards developing the SAF value chain, reinforcing their dedication to fostering the SAF market growth.
According to the statement, SAF is estimated to contribute 65 percent of aviation’s emissions reduction goal, equivalent to approximately 450 billion liters of SAF adoption annually by 2050.
The lower carbon intensity of SAF has garnered commitments for adoption from major global airlines, reflecting an environment ripe for transformative shifts and an expected increase in demand for FlyORO’s technology.
“SAFs play an essential role in our global efforts to decarbonize the aviation industry,
“Audacy is excited to back the FlyORO team to be an innovative enabler to the SAF supply chain and assist in scaling their modular on-demand blending solution internationally,” said Toby Chan, Co-Founder and Partner of Audacy Ventures.
Ben Lindsay, Investment Manager at Investible commented that FlyORO represents an exciting and unique opportunity to reduce the climate impact of a critical sector.
“Although SAF is expensive, the demand is growing rapidly,
“While producers and refiners continue their great work towards reducing the cost of SAF, we firmly believe in FlyORO’s ability to enable airlines and airports to adopt SAF sooner and work towards their emission reduction goals through FlyORO’s AlphaLite blending technology,” he added.
It is noted that following the successful launch of FlyORO’s revolutionary modular SAF blending technology, the AlphaLite, in collaboration with Jet Aviation in April 2023,
FlyORO remains dedicated to reducing aviation emissions globally.
The company is strategically expanding, establishing new bases to seamlessly integrate into the jet fuel supply chain.
FlyORO envisions the AlphaLite as a catalyst, making the adoption of SAF more accessible for all flyers.
It is noted that FlyORO’s modular SAF blending technology, AlphaLite, offers flexibility and control to flyers.
The technology is backed by the company’s proprietary programming technology which receives a regular software update once every 6 months to increase the efficiency of its operations.
The data contributes to pushing industry limits and raising the blend ratios to commercial scale, hoping to help surpass the current 50 percent SAF blend limit.
FlyORO’s AlphaLite empowers aircraft operators to make better informed decisions regarding SAF adoption, considering factors from cost parity to feedstock quality.
FlyORO is a firm provides revolutionary, modular, on-demand blending service of SAF and jet fuel to enable aviation on its emissions reduction journey.
As an enabler to the SAF supply chain, the firm enables flyers the flexibility to align their environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) targets per flight rather than be succumbed to fixed blend ratios and bulk commitments upfront.
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