Rivan, the company enabling energy security through synthetic fuels, has raised £10 million in funding led by Plural, with participation from 20VC, NFDG (Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross), and prominent angel investors Patrick and John Collison (Stripe). The capital will be used for R&D on Rivan’s electrolyser, direct-air-capture (DAC) and Sabatier reactor modules, as well as scaling its pilot plant up to 1MW.
Starting with synthetic natural gas (SNG), Rivan is addressing the 22 per cent of global emissions that stem from heavy industry’s reliance on natural gas for steel, cement and chemical production. These sectors cannot be easily electrified and have few cost-effective decarbonisation options. Rivan’s modular plants, powered by off-grid solar and injecting SNG into pipelines across the UK and Europe, aim to provide that solution. Its three key modules — electrolyser, DAC and Sabatier reactor — are designed and manufactured by Rivan in the UK, accelerating cost-reduction and deployment speed.
Rivan was founded by Harvey Hodd, a serial entrepreneur with two successful tech exits, who is now focused on building the technology and infrastructure to aid the UK’s and Europe’s energy security. Over the past year, Harvey has assembled a multidisciplinary team of engineers, infrastructure specialists and solar planners to bring this vision to life.
Synthetic fuels are chemically identical, but carbon-neutral, substitutes for fossil fuels; they can flow through today’s power and pipeline networks with no modifications. Historically, high input-energy costs made synthetic fuels uncompetitive. However, over the past decade, solar power has experienced dramatic cost reductions, now reducing at a rate of about 1% a month based on massive production capacity and demand. This is opening a pathway for synthetic fuels to match fossil fuel costs within the next five to ten years.
Rivan designs and manufactures its systems at a 10,000 sq ft factory in Bermondsey, South London, and has deployed its first 100kW pilot at a decommissioned UK military base. This system demonstrates cost-effective, grid-specification SNG production with only air and water as inputs. Rivan is now aiming to scale the site to 1MW, while improving performance, enhancing integration and reducing manufacturing costs, ahead of larger commercial deployments in 2026.
