Dimensional Energy secures $20 million Series A funding

Photo: Meagan Helton

Dimensional Energy Inc. announced Dec. 12 the successful closure of a $20 million Series A funding round.  

In addition, the climate-tech company announced its filing of the Delaware Public Benefit Corporation Charter, the first step in becoming a certified B Corporation.  

“As a technology company we work with third parties to verify our performance, carbon intensity, and full lifecycle analysis,” said Dimensional Energy CEO Jason Salfi. “The same needs to be true when it comes to other environmental and social-equity claims. ‘B Corporation’ status provides a framework for companies to continually improve positive impact for all stakeholders while maintaining exceptional financial performance.”  

The funding round was led by Envisioning Partners, a prominent Korea-based impact venture-capital fund with a strong global focus on climate investing, with strategic participation from United Airlines’ Sustainable Flight Fund, Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, RockCreek Group’s Smart Aviation Futures fund, DSC Investment, Delek US, New York Ventures, and continuing support from existing investors Elemental Excelerator, Chloe Capital, and Launch New York among others. 

“We are excited to be supporting Dimensional Energy, a clear leader in power-to-liquid sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production, which is much needed in decarbonizing a hard-to-abate industry like aviation,” said Yong Hyun Kim, managing partner of Envisioning Partners. “Dimensional Energy’s mix of proven large-scale technology, proprietary catalyst technology and project-development capabilities positions the company very well for fast scale up globally.” 

The substantial Series A round funding, combined with committed third-party project financing, positions Dimensional Energy for significant growth, enabling the company to rapidly achieve commercial scale and expand its portfolio of high-value, financially attractive projects, according to Dimensional Energy.  

“The world needs immediate and rapid decarbonization across all sectors, and Dimensional Energy shows great promise as a cleaner and lower-carbon aviation solution alongside reductions in industrial emissions,” said Brandon Middaugh, senior director of Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund. “Microsoft has been an early adopter of sustainable aviation fuel and sees this market as critical for global decarbonization, which is why Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund is supporting Dimensional Energy’s work as a direct equity investor.”  

Dimensional Energy will allocate the newly raised funds to advance its key initiatives: 

1. Construction of what it says is the world’s first advanced power-to-liquid (PtL) fuels plant, utilizing emissions from the Lafarge Richmond Cement Plant in British Columbia, Canada, in partnership with Svante, a leader in carbon-capture technology. 

2. The continued development of commercial power-to-liquid plants globally including a project with financing from Seneca Environmental and development support from Elemental Excelerator’s Infrastructure and Community Engagement programs. 

3. Introduction of Dimensional Energy’s first consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) products, including fossil-free surf wax and a cruelty-free fat alternative tailored for vegan-food manufacturers. 

4. Technology advancements including the evolution of Dimensional Energy’s proprietary reactor and catalyst technologies, which are being developed with funding from U.S. DOE’s ARPA-E and SETO programs, in collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Cornell University. These innovations are field-tested at Dimensional Energy’s technology center in Tucson, Arizona. 

“Earlier this summer, we made a strategic investment of development capital into Dimensional Energy because we saw the potential of their upstate New York project to deliver replicable decarbonization technology while engaging the local community in workforce expansion,” said Dawn Lippert, founder and CEO of Elemental Excelerator. “We are delighted that this catalytic investment, which we coupled with development-support services as well as customized community-engagement coaching, has proven a successful bridge to Dimensional’s next growth spurt. With the close of this round, Dimensional Energy is poised for significant growth and impact.” 

Andrew Chang, managing director of United Airlines Ventures, added, “Dimensional Energy has made remarkable progress since our initial investment and 300-million-gallon offtake agreement last year, including the launch of its Tucson Technology Center pilot plant. There’s no question that building the SAF industry from the ground up will take time and capital, but it’s innovative companies like Dimensional that are leading the transition to a more sustainable future. That’s why we have made a second investment and plan to continue to support Dimensional’s efforts to scale its operation to help create the SAF that our airline needs.” 

Dimensional Energy’s technology transforms carbon-dioxide emissions into SAF, renewable diesel, and a base synthetic paraffin that can be refined into over 6,000 everyday products.  

Utilizing carbon emissions and renewable energy reduces lifecycle emissions for hydrocarbon fuels by over 93 percent, according to a GREET lifecycle analysis of Dimensional’s process.  

Dimensional Energy’s capability to integrate into existing industrial facilities and provide a profitable carbon-utilization pathway marks a “revolutionary shift” in tackling global emissions challenges, according to the company.  

Many difficult-to-decarbonize industries are turning to carbon capture to reduce process emissions.  

Dimensional Energy said it creates the opportunity for carbon capture to expand by providing onsite utilization of these emissions by turning CO2 into fuels and everyday products that would otherwise be produced by newly extracted oil and gas. 

“Dimensional Energy particularly stood out to us for their differentiated technology, exceptional team, and significant progress to date towards producing SAF and other industrial products from CO2”, said Justin Heyman, managing director at RockCreek and leader of the Smart Aviation Futures team. “This technology can significantly reduce the environmental footprint of the airline industry.”