Rivan, a startup producing synthetic fuel, has raised £25 million in funding led by IQ Capital, with participation from Plural, Fundomo and angels including Thomas Wolf, Matt Clifford and Markus Villig. It develops systems to produce synthetic natural gas using renewable energy and captured carbon dioxide. The funding will support the deployment of Europe’s largest synthetic natural gas plant, the opening of a 50,000 sq ft manufacturing facility in London and expansion of its team.
Natural gas remains essential to Europe’s economy, but the UK and Europe rely heavily on imports, accounting for 42% and 85% respectively. This dependence exposes the region to supply shocks and price volatility. Rivan addresses this by producing synthetic fuels domestically using solar energy to generate green hydrogen, capturing CO2 from the air and converting both into carbon-neutral natural gas that can be used within existing gas infrastructure.
Rivan's system integrates the full production process from energy generation to gas grid injection. The resulting synthetic natural gas is chemically identical to conventional natural gas and can be injected directly into pipelines and storage systems without requiring structural changes. Rivan designs and manufactures its systems in-house in the United Kingdom to optimise performance and reduce costs.
In the past 12 months, it has built a 1MW plant in Wiltshire, currently the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom, and tripled its customer contracts. The new funding will enable it to inject synthetic natural gas into the UK gas grid for the first time, scale manufacturing capacity and develop larger gigawatt-scale sites across the United Kingdom and Europe. The company is also partnering with Wales & West Utilities to deliver the UK’s first grid-connected commercial synthetic natural gas project.
Rivan was founded in 2024 by Harvey Hodd and has assembled a team of more than 30 engineers across electrical, chemical and mechanical disciplines. It plans to more than double its team to 100 people. The business aims to produce more than one billion cubic metres of synthetic natural gas annually within the next decade, representing almost 20% of the UK’s industrial gas demand, while removing millions of tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere.
We started Rivan to create a large-scale domestic supply of synthetic fuels, removing the price, supply and emissions risk crippling Europe today. Natural Gas will remain an essential part of the energy system, especially for heavy industry, but how it is produced needs to change. By vertically integrating the entire process and manufacturing entirely in-house, we can enable domestic production of synthetic fuels at a scale and price that can make a dent in Europe’s energy security plan. This new funding is a big step towards achieving that, and a small step towards our ultimate aim to make life sustainable on Earth.
What Harvey and the team have achieved in the past two years is extraordinary. Rivan is proving that it is possible to create cost-competitive synthetic natural gas at scale. It is clear that Europe requires more resilient, secure, and clean energy supplies and Rivan’s technology is a critical component in delivering that. We look forward to supporting Harvey and the Rivan team to become the next energy major in Europe.
Producing synthetic fuel has historically been constrained by cost, complexity and scale. Rivan has made rapid progress in addressing each of these, moving from first principles through to a functioning system with early commercial validation. That combination of scientific progress, engineering execution and early traction is rare, and puts Harvey and the team in a strong position to build a new category of domestic energy production.
