Why We Invested in Sora Fuels
Co-leading Sora Fuels' $14.6M round
Spero has been investing in climate tech companies since our inception, and Marc on our team has been building and operating in the space since the early 2000s. Like most of our peers in the climate tech ecosystem, we didn’t have “investing in an e-fuels company” on our 2026 bingo card. We’ve all seen billions invested in e-fuels, and we’ve seen most of those companies struggle to reach scale. But the most exciting investments happen when founders surprise you. And that’s exactly what happened when we met Gareth Ross, Patrick Sarver, and Curtis Berlinguette from Sora Fuels.
Sora has built the technology that at scale will produce cost-competitive zero carbon jet fuel without depending on subsidies or policy mandates. Their tech stack combines direct air capture, a novel electrolyzer, and fuel production into a single elegant system that allows them to vertically integrate and deploy their systems wherever there is cheap power. At Spero, most of our climate-related investing aligns with our deeply held belief in a future with abundant, clean, and cheap electricity, built on top of renewable energy sources like solar, storage, nuclear and geothermal. The combination of cheap power and Sora’s technology approach give the company degrees of freedom that past approaches to e-fuel production were not afforded. Ultimately, we believe Sora will be able to deliver on the zero carbon jet-fuel vision that so many before them have pursued.
The value of producing fuel on demand outside of global oil markets has never been more obvious. As global oil markets continue to prove to be volatile and we enter an era of less global cooperation, the need for sovereign fuel production solutions is growing. Sora’s technology will allow any nation with reliable power to establish their own sovereign fuel production capacity.
Gareth, Patrick, and Curtis are a rare combination of commercial, technical, and science talent. The first phase of this company has been science-driven built off of Curtis’s research. Patrick and the engineering team he built have been able to scale the science from a novel concept in a lab, to working modular systems in the real world. Engineering and science will always be the backbone of this business, but as we move forward, Sora will lean on Gareth’s long background as a Fortune 500 executive to navigate financial markets and commercialization. We are hard-pressed to think of a team that is better equipped to navigate both the technical and commercial challenges ahead.
We did not set out to be in the oil industry at, but we could not be more excited to back Gareth, Patrick, Curtis, and the whole Sora Fuels team. Better yet, we get to do it alongside our good friends at Inspired Capital, Engine Ventures, Wireframe, and more. Here’s to the road ahead!