Raising Partners closes £3.7m funding round with Celtic Renewables

The ABE Fermentation process is not a widely known industrial process, largely because it hasn’t been applied in any industry for over 50 years. And yet, a technology that’s almost a century old could hold the key to a more sustainable and cleaner future.

It is Celtic Renewables, a pioneering Scottish technology company, that are paving the way for the resurgence of this forgotten process, using it to convert low-value waste residues from the whisky industry into high-value, low-carbon sustainable products.

Founded in 2008 by Professor Martin Tangney OBE, an award-winning Scientist and Founder of the Scottish Biofuel Research Institute at Edinburgh Napier University, Celtic Renewables has raised over £3.7m with the support of Raising Partners, welcoming more than 2,500 new shareholders to its investor community. The organisation will use the funds raised to complete the construction of its first biorefinery plant in Grangemouth, Scotland.

Their proposition is simple: they take the residual by-products from Scottish Whisky production, which are produced in large volumes & are problematic to dispose of, and use their patented process to convert them into high-value, low-carbon products, namely Acetone, Butanol, Ethanol & high grade animal feed. As a platform technology, this process can be applied to waste residues from all sorts of industries and therefore, has significant global potential.

These products play an important role in our daily lives and have applications in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food production, hygiene products and advanced sustainable biofuels. The downstream markets for ABE biochemicals are set to be worth over £130bn by 2025 with the business having already received significant letters of intent from prospective buyers of these products including Merck, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, Caldic, a global distributor for the food, pharma, personal care and industrial markets and Acme Hardesty, one of the largest oleochemical distributors in the US.

The Raising Partners team worked with the team at Celtic Renewables to provide end-to-end support for the fundraise, focusing on breaking down the complex technical innovation and articulating the opportunity effectively to attract investment from retail investors. With over £500,000 invested in the first 10 hours of the crowdfunding campaign, the final total of more than £3.7m was raised against an initial target of £1.75m.

Investors in the round included Doug Ward CBE, previously the Founder of Argent Energy and Mark Bamforth, the Founder & CEO of Arranta Bio and formerly the Founder of Gallus Pharmaceuticals and Brammer Bio, both of which were sold to larger players in the pharmaceutical industry.

The commissioning of its biorefinery at Grangemouth – the first of its kind in the UK – is on track for Spring 2021 and on the back of £30 million funding already raised, the business is poised to play a pivotal role in the UK’s transition to a net-zero economy.

Read more about the fundraise and how Raising Partners helped Celtic Renewables exceed their investment goal here.