FluoRok raises $30m to scrap 250-year-old HF chemistry at scale

UK deep-tech company FluoRok has closed a $30m oversubscribed series A to build industrial-scale fluorochemical plants that run without hydrogen fluoride, one of industry's most hazardous chemicals.

Orano Venture Fund and Supernova Invest led the round. Bidra Innovation Ventures joined, alongside existing investors Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE), BGF, GGF, Volta Energy Technologies and the University of Oxford. The round also carried roughly $1.3m in grant funding from Innovate UK.

"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," said Gabriele Pupo, CEO and founder of FluoRok.

Why does hydrogen fluoride matter so much?

Fluorochemicals sit inside a striking share of modern products. According to the company, about one in five medicines and one in three agrochemicals contain fluorine. They also appear as electrolyte salts in lithium-ion batteries.

Yet conventional production still relies on a process developed roughly 250 years ago. It needs hydrogen fluoride and high-purity fluorspar, a mineral whose supply concentrates in a small number of countries — China above all. HF is highly toxic, demands specialised handling infrastructure, and drives up both capital costs and regulatory complexity for any new manufacturing site.

FluoRok replaces the acid route with mechanical activation, dropping HF from the process entirely. The method also accepts lower-grade mined fluoride or fluoride recovered from industrial waste streams, which cuts dependence on high-purity fluorspar and concentrated supply chains. The company says its technology runs on off-the-shelf industrial equipment, trimming the cost and complexity of scaling.

Where will the money go?

The new capital funds demonstrator facilities for FluoRok's reagents and battery electrolyte salts, plus team expansion, customer validation and commercial partnerships. FluoRok says it has already completed pilot qualifications and secured commercial interest from prospective customers.

Its first target markets cover two product lines:

• Inorganic fluorides for pharmaceutical and agrochemical applications
• Lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF₆), a widely used electrolyte salt in lithium-ion batteries

Bidra's backing comes with a broad thesis. "[This] 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," said Abhiram Kannan, head of investment for industrials and mining at Bidra Innovation Ventures.

What's the track record?

FluoRok, a University of Oxford spinout and OSE portfolio company, has raised $14m in prior equity financing and secured more than $13m in UK and European public funding. The series A brings total backing to well over $43m in equity and grants.

The company will be among the OSE portfolio businesses presenting at the GCV Asia Congress in Tokyo, running November 9–11, 2026.

OSE itself is scaling an ambitious model. Recent landmark exits in quantum computing and biotech, it argues, show that building companies around university research, recruiting entrepreneurial leaders and providing patient capital delivers results — and the organisation now targets the UK's first trillion-pound deep-tech company while taking the approach global.

The deal signals investor appetite for technologies that harden supply chains for critical materials while cutting the environmental, safety and economic costs of legacy production. If FluoRok's demonstrator facilities convert pilot-stage commercial interest into contracts, the 250-year-old default in fluorochemicals manufacturing faces its first serious industrial challenger.