This week, six travel-related firms reported raising close to $104 million in funding.
$20 million has been raised in series A funding by Dimensional Energy, which is creating a carbon dioxide-based renewable aviation fuel.
Leading the fundraising round was Envisioning Partners, with assistance from the following: DSC Investment, RockCreek Group’s Smart Aviation Futures fund, Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, Elemental Excelerator, Chloe Capital, Launch New York, United Airlines’ Sustainable Flight Fund, and others.
According to Dimensional Energy, its technology can convert carbon dioxide emissions into diesel, aviation, and synthetic paraffin wax, which is useful in a variety of commonplace items.
The company includes offices in Houston, laboratories in Ithaca, New York, and a pilot plant in Arizona.
As part of a series of agreements the airline has been negotiating with comparable companies, United announced last year that it had agreed to buy at least 300 million gallons of fuel from Dimensional Energy over a 20-year period.
The most recent funding will support the product’s development and expansion.
This includes building a facility in British Columbia, Canada, that captures carbon from the Lafarge Richmond Cement Plant using Svante technology.
With funding from Seneca Environmental and development assistance from Elemental Excelerator, a nonprofit devoted to scaling climate technology, the company intends to build other facilities throughout the world.
The business also intends to launch more goods, such as a vegan fat substitute for food makers and a wax for surfboards.
Aether Fuels: $8.5 million
Pre-series A investment for Aether Fuels, which is creating an aviation fuel from carbon dioxide, has been raised for $8.5 million. Convertible notes, a sort of loan for early-stage firms that can eventually be converted into equity, were used as the funding source.
JetBlue Ventures, TechEnergy Ventures, Doral Energy Tech Ventures, Foothill Ventures, and Xora Innovation were among the investors in the round.
Aether, which has its headquarters in Singapore and Chicago, claims to have a patented technique that turns carbon from biological materials and airborne carbon particles into fuel. The product is intended for use in maritime and aviation industries.
The money will be used for hiring, growing its pilot facility in Chicago, and researching and scaling production technology.
$8 million for metafuels
Energy Impact Partners and Contrarian Ventures have contributed $8 million to Metafuels, a company that is creating a sustainable aircraft fuel.
Based in Zurich According to Metafuels, there is no need to alter aircraft or fuel infrastructure in order to use its synthetic methanol product in place of regular kerosine. According to the corporation, airlines may find this to be a more financially viable option than switching to hydrogen or electric aircraft.
According to the company, green methanol is converted into aviation fuel using a two-step process using its unique technology. Carbon dioxide derived from sustainable sources and “green” hydrogen combine to create “green” methanol. Electricity is used to split water molecules, producing “green” hydrogen. In the short term, the carbon originates from biomass; as those technologies advance, the long-term objective is to remove carbon from the air.
The money will be used to open a pilot laboratory at the Swiss research institution Paul Scherrer Institute.
According to Metafuels, by 2030, its product will be able to completely replace jet fuel.
“If it was decided that by 2050 all fossil fuels needed to be eliminated from jet fuel, we would say yes — that’s certainly possible,” said Leigh Hackett, chairman and chief commercial officer for Metafuels. “And it will be possible using our eSAF.”
Smartpricing: $14.2 million
According to reports, Smartpricing, a firm that manages income for hotels and rentals, raised $14.2 million (€13 million) in a series A funding round. It consists of €2 million in bank credit lines and €11 million in equity headed by Partech. The creators of Bending Spoons, an app development company, Gianluca D’Agostino of Techshop, and Azimut Digitech Fund were among the other equity investors.
The business, based in Italy, claims that their AI-powered approach helps hotels and vacation rentals establish the best prices by analyzing market trends and geography.
According to the startup, it has over 3,000 hosts worldwide.
The money will be used to extend services beyond revenue control.
$5 million in Intelity
Tim Stafford and Steve Proctor, two individual investors, have contributed $5 million to the growth capital of Intelity, a hotel technology platform.
Additionally, according to his Linkedin page, Proctor was designated the company’s new CEO, a position he began in October.
The Los Angeles-based company Intelity claims to have several solutions that hotels may give its visitors, such as keyless entry, payment capabilities, and mobile check-in and check-out applications. Additionally, it offers a number of products for jobs around the house.
Proctor was the CEO of Edgenet, an e-commerce startup, when he steered it out of bankruptcy and into Syndigo’s acquisition for $100 million four years later. He also has prior experience at Oracle.
Stayntouch: $48,000,000
The hotel chain MCR owns the property management business Stayntouch, which has raised $48 million in venture funding.
The only investor was Sixth Street Growth, which also owns the fintech startup Stripe, the parking app Passport, Spotify, Airbnb, and other companies.
Hotel operations such as housekeeping, payments, and check-in and check-out are managed by Stayntouch, a cloud-based property management system.
Money used to launch a firm, known as seed capital, is frequently provided by friends, family, and angel investors.
Venture capitalists are usually the source of Series A financing. The goal of the round is to support entrepreneurs in ensuring that their product is something that real consumers would want to purchase.
The primary goal of series B financing is to enable venture capitalists to support a business’s rapid expansion. These fundraising events can help with building affordable marketing strategies and attracting qualified personnel.
Typically, the goal of series C funding is to facilitate a company’s expansion through acquisitions or other means. Hedge funds, investment banks, and private equity firms frequently take part in addition to venture capitalists.
Sequences D, E, and higher The capital round and these primarily established firms could aid a company in getting ready to go public or be purchased. Different kinds of private investors could take part.