LanzaJet announces $47 million in new capital, 1st close of equity round at $650 million pre-money valuation

Alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) company LanzaJet Inc. announced Feb. 19 the first close of an overall $135-million target equity-investment round at a $650 million pre-money-enterprise valuation.

The round is co-led by International Airlines Group and Shell, with participation from Groupe ADP, LanzaTech, and Mitsui—all existing shareholders that are expanding their investment in LanzaJet’s growth and operations at LanzaJet Freedom Pines Fuels in Soperton, Georgia.

LanzaJet said the continued investment from these industry leaders underscores strong confidence in the future of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and LanzaJet’s proprietary ATJ technology.

The financing will support existing and future commercial deployments of its ATJ technology, allowing LanzaJet to capitalize on its portfolio of global opportunities.

Separately, LanzaJet was previously awarded a substantial grant from the U.K. Department for Transport’s Advanced Fuels Fund to accelerate development of its Project Speedbird, a major SAF biorefinery in Teesside.

The first close of the equity round and the grant together provide LanzaJet with $47 million in capital.

“We’re at a pivotal moment at LanzaJet,” said CEO Jimmy Samartzis. “At the end of 2025, we announced that we fully operated and produced ASTM on-spec fuels at LanzaJet Freedom Pines Fuels—marking both the world’s first production of jet fuel using ethanol as a feedstock at a commercial-scale plant, and the first nonoil-based scalable renewable solution compatible with today’s aircraft. The decision by our existing investors to lead this fundraising round reaffirms their conviction in our technology and sends a strong signal to the entire industry that LanzaJet is committed to unlocking new value for ethanol, creating opportunity for economic development, and defining the future of fuels for transportation.”

As part of this funding round, LanzaJet is entering into an innovative multiyear tolling structure at its LanzaJet Freedom Pines Fuels facility.

Under the tolling agreements, LanzaJet will use a low carbon, waste-based ethanol produced domestically in the U.S., along with renewable natural gas from a regional plant, to produce low-carbon SAF and renewable diesel fuel.

The tolling structure provides LanzaJet with secured feedstock supply and guaranteed offtake of all production at the plant.

In conjunction with this round, LanzaJet said it optimized its ownership and governance structure to enable effective and efficient decision-making, support its growth and position the company to attract future investors.