FluoRok, a UK company building a novel manufacturing platform for fluorochemicals that bypasses the need for highly hazardous hydrogen fluoride (HF), has closed an oversubscribed $30m (£22.8m) Series A financing round. The round was led by Orano Venture Fund/Supernova Invest, alongside investment from Bidra Innovation Ventures, and continued backing from existing investors Oxford Science Enterprises, BGF, GGF, Volta Energy Technologies and the University of Oxford, from which FluoRok was spun out.
The equity round exceeded its original target, building on the $14m (£11m) raised in previous rounds and more than $13m (£10m) in UK and European public funding secured to date. It also included participation from several angel investors, smaller investment partners - EverQuest Capital Partners, CPI Enterprises (also a scale-up partner), WS Investment - and approximately $1.3m (£1m) in grant funding from Innovate UK through its Investor Partnerships programme.
Why fluorochemicals need a safer and better way to be made
About one in five medicines and one in three agrochemicals on the market contain fluorine, and fluorochemicals are key components of lithium-ion batteries. Despite their importance, conventional fluorochemical manufacturing still relies on a 250-year-old process that depends on HF - one of the most hazardous chemicals in industrial use - and high-purity mined fluorspar (calcium fluoride), a critical raw material sourced from a very limited number of countries, predominantly China.
HF is highly toxic and difficult to handle, meaning that conventional production requires specialised infrastructure, significant capital investment and complex permitting, limiting where new manufacturing capacity can be established.
FluoRok is addressing these constraints with its safer and lower-cost HF-free process that uses mechanical activation rather than acid and high temperatures. The technology runs on off-the-shelf industrial equipment for rapid scale-up and can use lower-grade mined fluoride or fluoride recovered from industrial waste streams. This reduces capital and operating costs, enables production closer to end markets, and lessens reliance on a handful of supplying regions.
FluoRok’s initial markets are inorganic fluorides for pharmaceutical and agrochemical applications, and lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF₆), the most common electrolyte salt in lithium-ion batteries, with further fluorochemicals to follow.
What this funding will enable
FluoRok has completed pilot qualifications and gained strong commercial traction with key customers. The funding will support its transition to industrial scale: building demonstrator facilities for its reagents and lithium-ion battery electrolyte salts to prove repeatable manufacturing, expanding the team to support scale-up, validating its products with customers at scale, and broadening commercial partnerships to accelerate global deployment.
Dr Gabriele Pupo, CEO and Founder, FluoRok said:
"We are thrilled to welcome new investors on our journey to fundamentally change how the world makes fluorochemicals, with safer chemistry and better economics. Closing another oversubscribed round, backed by both new and existing investors from around the world, is a testament to the strength of our technology, the incredible commercial traction and the speed of execution of the FluoRok team. This funding will ensure FluoRok can swiftly move from start-up to scale-up and take a further step towards becoming a large-scale industrial manufacturer."
Florian de Beauchaine, Investment Manager, Orano Venture Fund/Supernova Invest said:
"We back companies whose technologies support a sovereign, sustainable industrial transition. FluoRok has already shown its process works at pilot scale, and taking hydrogen fluoride out of fluorochemical production tackles a safety and supply problem the whole industry shares. We are pleased to join a strong group of investors supporting the team as it moves to industrial scale."
Abhiram Kannan, Ph.D., Head of Investment for Industrials and Mining, Bidra Innovation Ventures said:
"What drew us to FluoRok is that its process isn't tied to one product, but it is a platform with the potential to redefine how fluorochemicals are manufactured and become the new benchmark for the industry. The same chemistry applies to pharmaceutical and agrochemical building blocks, battery materials and inorganic fluorides, which gives the company several routes to commercial scale and a broad base of potential partners. We're pleased to back the team at this stage of its growth."
About Orano Venture Fund and Supernova Invest
Orano Venture Fund (OVF) is the corporate venture capital arm of Orano, a leading international operator across the entire nuclear fuel cycle. Managed by Supernova Invest, OVF backs high-potential European early-stage deeptech startups in industrial performance and safety, advanced engineering, and sustainable chemistry. Beyond capital, it gives portfolio companies access to Orano’s industrial infrastructure and technical expertise.
Supernova Invest is Europe’s leading deeptech venture capital firm, with c. €800 million under management and 80+ portfolio companies across Cleantech, Digital, Industrial Technologies and Healthcare. For 20 years, it has provided long-term capital, operating experience and strategic support from seed to growth stage, bringing together corporates, research institutions and co-investors.
About Bidra Innovation Ventures
Bidra Innovation Ventures is the $250M corporate venture capital arm backed by Morocco’s OCP Group - steward of the world’s largest reserves of phosphate and Mohammed VI Polytechnic University - a cutting-edge African applied research university ecosystem (UM6P). Bidra invests in founders that reinvent agriculture, industrials, and mining. Headquartered in the United States, we deploy capital globally, supporting early and growth-stage startups.
