FluoRok raises €26.6M Series A to scale fluorochemical production without hydrogen fluoride

FluoRok (Oxford) has raised €26.6 million ($30M) in a Series A to industrialise its fluorochemical manufacturing process — one that produces battery electrolyte salts and pharmaceutical ingredients without hydrogen fluoride, the toxic acid that underpins nearly every conventional fluorochemistry operation today. The oversubscribed round drew ten investors, led by Orano Ventures Fund / Supernova Invest and Bidra Innovation Ventures, with participation from Oxford Science Enterprises, BGF, GGF, Volta Energy Technologies, the University of Oxford, EverQuest Capital Partners, CPI Enterprises, and WS Investment.

The HF problem in chemistry

Hydrogen fluoride is an extraordinary industrial reagent and an extraordinary hazard: acutely toxic, corrosive, and capable of penetrating skin and attacking bone. It is also the standard starting point for most fluorochemistry, including the lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF6) electrolyte salts that sit inside every lithium-ion battery. The supply chain consequence is that virtually all commercial LiPF6 is produced in China, using Chinese fluorspar and HF-based chemistry, in facilities that have invested decades in managing the hazard.

FluoRok, founded in 2022 as a University of Oxford spin-out by chemists Véronique Gouverneur and Gabriele Pupo, has developed a patented mechanical activation process that sidesteps HF entirely. The company says its route can produce LiPF6 and other fluorochemicals — including pharmaceutical active ingredients and next-generation battery salts such as LiFSI and FEC — from fluorite ore or fluorinated polymer waste without generating or handling hydrogen fluoride at any point. If the process holds at scale, it removes both the safety liability and the dependency on Chinese processing infrastructure.

From pilot to demonstrator

The company describes this as an "oversubscribed" close, its second consecutive. The €26.6M will fund a transition from pilot-scale operation to demonstrator facilities for both battery electrolyte salts and specialty reagents. Gabriele Pupo frames the milestone directly: "This funding will ensure FluoRok can swiftly move from start-up to scale-up and take a further step towards becoming a large-scale industrial manufacturer."

The investor composition reflects a deliberate widening of the cap table beyond pure venture capital. Orano, the French nuclear fuel cycle group, invested via Supernova Invest, its venture arm — bringing a potential industrial customer and partner into the same column as the financial investors. Volta Energy Technologies and CPI Enterprises add operational validation; CPI, a UK-based manufacturing technology organisation, can provide process engineering and facilities access.

The company also cites traction in waste recovery, using fluorinated polymer waste as a fluoride source — which would give it access to a feedstock that is both cheap and increasingly regulated as a PFAS liability across Europe.

Why it matters

FluoRok has shown its process works at pilot scale; the industrialisation question is whether it can deliver at the multi-thousand-tonne volumes that battery manufacturers actually buy. The European battery supply chain remains heavily exposed to Chinese fluorspar and to the HF process, so the strategic case for a home-grown alternative is strong. Orano, through Supernova Invest, is the most consequential validator: the French nuclear fuel group both funds and potentially uses fluorochemicals across its own operations, giving FluoRok a pathway to industrial partnership that most chemistry startups cannot access. The 18-month proof point is the demonstrator facility: whether it can process lower-grade or waste-derived fluoride at credible throughput with consistent LiPF6 purity will determine whether the €26.6M buys a Series B or a rethink.