Mishcon de Reya's Emerging Companies team has advised University of Oxford's spinout company HydRegen, on their Series A funding round, to help accelerate the adoption of its sustainable biocatalytic technology across the chemical manufacturing industry. This follows an initial funding round in 2023, which secured £2.6 million.
HydRegen has developed enzyme-based catalysts that can replace more expensive precious-metal catalysts in chemical manufacturing. These new catalysts can be dropped into existing manufacturing processes, potentially reducing costs by up to 40% and carbon emissions by up to 30%.
Nicola McConville, Partner in the Innovation Department who led the deal, said: "This new round of funding will help push HydRegen into higher-volume markets. The response clearly shows appetite in the industry for measured investment in solutions to make chemical manufacturing cheaper, and more sustainable. Having worked with the team since their spin out, it was great to help them through their Series A."
Dr Holly Reeve, CEO of HydRegen said: "Precious-metal catalysts have dominated the chemical manufacturing process for decades. By making biology operate like chemistry, our biocatalyst-based technology platforms can drop into the equipment and processes manufacturers already use. Mishcon's support through both our spin-out and Series A round has been invaluable, and it was great to work with Nicola and the team once more."
The Mishcon team included Nicola McConville, Kate Morter and Alina Merchant.