$30m · Series A · Deeptech · Oxford, UK
Oxford-based FluoRok has raised a $30m Series A to scale a manufacturing process that makes fluorochemicals without hydrogen fluoride. Orano Venture Fund and Supernova Invest led the oversubscribed round, with Bidra Innovation Ventures joining existing investors Oxford Science Enterprises, BGF, Green Generation Fund, Volta Energy Technologies and the University of Oxford.
Removing hydrogen fluoride changes the factory economics
Fluorochemicals sit inside medicines, agrochemicals and lithium-ion batteries, but their conventional production depends on hydrogen fluoride, a highly hazardous chemical that requires specialised equipment, complex permitting and strict handling. FluoRok uses mechanical activation instead of acid and high temperatures, and says the process can run on off-the-shelf industrial equipment.
That is a manufacturing proposition rather than a laboratory-only chemistry claim. If the process performs consistently at scale, customers could add capacity closer to their markets with lower capital and operating costs. It may also widen the available feedstock by using lower-grade mined fluoride or fluoride recovered from industrial waste streams, reducing exposure to a concentrated supply chain.
The first markets are inorganic fluorides for pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals and lithium hexafluorophosphate, the electrolyte salt used in lithium-ion batteries. Those applications demand repeatable purity and reliable supply. FluoRok has completed pilot qualifications, but commercial value now depends on turning that technical progress into qualified products made at industrial throughput.
Demonstrator plants are the next proof point
The Series A will fund demonstrator facilities for fluorination reagents and battery electrolyte salts, expand the scale-up team, support customer validation and broaden commercial partnerships. Demonstrators matter because they bridge two different risks: proving the chemistry can be repeated on production equipment and giving customers enough material to qualify it in their own processes.
FluoRok was spun out of the University of Oxford in 2022. Its 2024 round financed initial scale-up and production capability, while a UK DRIVE35 grant supports a first-of-a-kind lithium-ion battery chemical demonstrator. The new financing moves the company towards a larger industrial manufacturer, where plant reliability, quality control and customer qualification will determine how quickly technical advantage becomes recurring supply.
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Ultra-thin batteries could create new product categories — Mohamed Foulser, Moritz H. Futscher and Michael Brehm, hosted on EUVC · 25 September 2026. The discussion explains why production learning and customer qualification can be as decisive as material performance, the same transition FluoRok is financing through its demonstrator plants.
