Promethean Particles, a chemical manufacturing company specialising in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), has closed a £8m financing round. The investment was led by Mercia Ventures and Aramco Ventures, with participation from existing investors including the Midlands Engine Investment Fund I (Equity Finance fund, managed by Foresight), the University of Nottingham, TSP Ventures, and the East Midlands Early Growth Fund (managed by the British Business Bank).
MOFs are a class of materials composed of metal ions interconnected by organic molecules to form a porous, lattice-like structure. Their unique architecture gives them an exceptionally high surface area and customizable pore sizes, which allows them to trap and store gases and liquids efficiently. This makes MOFs highly effective for applications such as gas storage and separation, carbon capture, and catalysis.
“The closing of our Series A round represents a significant milestone in the Company’s growth journey, and we are delighted to welcome Mercia and Aramco Ventures to the Promethean team,” said James Stephenson, chief executive officer of Promethean. “We are extremely grateful for the trust they have placed in us and are excited by their recognition of our business potential and the impact we can have on the world. It is increasingly evident that a viable carbon capture solution is required to help mitigate the effects of climate change. MOFs show significant promise as a technological solution and Promethean’s manufacturing technology enables their production at unprecedented scale and cost-effectiveness. I couldn’t be prouder of the Promethean team for all that they have accomplished to help make this investment a reality.”
The company has developed a proprietary continuous-flow reactor that not only dramatically improves the throughput and cost of MOF production, but also increases process reliability and consistency, without sacrificing critical quality parameters. Promethean currently produces a wide portfolio of MOFs for various customer applications including carbon capture and storage (CCS), biogas upgrading, water harvesting and gas separation and storage.
Dr Marina Fuentes, investment manager at Mercia Ventures, said, “Promethean Particles is uniquely positioned to capitalise on the fast-growing MOF market through their innovative manufacturing reactor technology, which addresses the bottlenecks of cost and scalability. We are thrilled to support a highly capable team and a cutting-edge technology that has been developed over 15 years and is now ripe for commercialisation at scale. We are also excited to partner with Aramco Ventures, whose strategic expertise will bring significant value to the Board.”
Bruce Niven, head of strategic venturing at Aramco Ventures, said “MOFs are an emerging class of materials with unique properties and wide-ranging applications including several in the energy transition domain. Promethean offers new capabilities to scale manufacturing of MOFs cost-effectively, which is a critical ingredient in unlocking the potential for these materials to gain widespread acceptance.”
The new investment will enable the Nottingham-based company to build a scaled-up manufacturing facility, expand the team, and implement further projects that demonstrate the potential of MOFs in energy transition applications