"Green Carbon Synthetic Energy" Closes Tens of Millions of RMB in Pre-A Funding, Linear Capital Continues to Double Down | Linear Portfolio
Its first self-operated factory will have an annual production capacity of 1,000 metric tons of SAF upon completion.
Recently, Green Carbon Synthetic Energy announced the completion of a nearly RMB 100 million Pre-A funding round. Linear Capital, which served as the sole angel-round investor, decided to follow on with its full pro-rata allocation after closely observing the company's development.
According to relevant estimates, the global SAF (sustainable aviation fuel) market will reach roughly RMB 100 billion in 2025. Green Carbon Synthetic Energy completed independent R&D of its Fischer-Tropsch synthesis process for SAF production in under two years, achieving 100% domestic production of its self-developed core process package. The team is currently building its first self-operated factory, which will have an annual SAF production capacity of several thousand tons upon completion.
Recently, Green Carbon Synthetic Energy (Shaoxing) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Green Carbon Synthetic Energy"), a sustainable aviation fuel producer, announced the completion of a nearly RMB 100 million Pre-A funding round. The round was led by Rongtuo Capital, with follow-on investments from Delian Capital and existing shareholder Linear Capital. The proceeds will be used for the construction of its first self-operated factory and to supplement daily operating cash flow.
Green Carbon Synthetic Energy was founded in July 2023, specializing in producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and other green fuels and industrial feedstocks from agricultural and forestry waste, municipal solid waste, and other raw materials through its self-developed Fischer-Tropsch synthesis technology. Founder and CEO Dr. Xia Lifeng previously worked at a top international nanocatalysis laboratory. Core team members come from leading international nanocatalysis labs, major domestic energy SOEs, and listed companies, with deep expertise in nanocatalyst R&D, industrial nanocatalyst production, and process engineering.
The team has completed core technology validation of its self-developed novel Fischer-Tropsch synthesis process for SAF production and is currently building its first self-operated factory, which will achieve an annual SAF production capacity of several thousand tons upon operation.
Around 2020, the EU and US successively incorporated aviation carbon reduction into national strategy, establishing 2030 and 2050 SAF blending ratio and production targets, and supporting SAF industry development through differentiated subsidies and tax credits. Major airlines began large-scale SAF procurement, raising their 2030 SAF usage targets to between 10% and 30%. Overseas SAF companies represented by Neste started aggressively expanding capacity. In 2023, driven by both domestic crude oil self-sufficiency goals and EU energy conservation and emissions reduction requirements, the Green Carbon team concluded that China's SAF market would rise rapidly in the near term, though domestic SAF technology and market infrastructure remained relatively underdeveloped. In this environment, Dr. Xia decided to return to China to start a business, establishing Green Carbon Synthetic Energy together with several colleagues.
At its founding, the company compared available routes including HEFA, FT (Fischer-Tropsch), and ATJ (alcohol-to-jet). Green Carbon Synthetic Energy ultimately established its technical route around self-developed Fischer-Tropsch synthesis for SAF production.
Green Carbon Synthetic Energy products (Fischer-Tropsch wax, light oil)
Regarding the rationale for choosing Fischer-Tropsch synthesis technology, Xia Lifeng explained: "Most domestic SAF producers use HEFA technology, which currently has the highest technical maturity. But HEFA faces limited feedstock availability for waste cooking oil. Other routes like ATJ use cellulosic ethanol or starch ethanol as feedstock. Starch ethanol involves food security concerns domestically and doesn't meet EU feedstock requirements, while cellulosic ethanol feedstock costs are too high. Although FT technology was still gradually entering the demonstration stage at the time, we judged it to have the greatest future potential, primarily because its feedstock is agricultural waste, which is abundantly available and has the lowest cost, without raw material constraints. The main challenge for FT was technical bottlenecks, but few companies globally could execute this technology at the time—everyone was essentially at a similar starting line."
In under two years, Green Carbon Synthetic Energy completed independent R&D of its Fischer-Tropsch synthesis process for SAF production, optimizing catalysts and process pathways based on traditional Fischer-Tropsch technology. Its self-developed core process package achieved 100% domestic production. "In terms of technical capability, our catalyst performance and production process rank in the global first tier. Under the same medium-pressure, medium-temperature conditions, we use a proprietary catalyst formulation that achieves overall yields 1.5 to 2 times those of competitors. Leveraging China's upstream equipment and raw material supply chain capabilities, the SAF we produce also has significant cost advantages," Xia Lifeng added.
In September 2024, China's SAF application pilot program officially launched. Since then, favorable SAF policies have accelerated. In March 2025, the second phase of the SAF pilot began, with Beijing Daxing, Chengdu Shuangliu, Zhengzhou Xinzheng, and Ningbo Lishe airports implementing 1% SAF regular blending for domestic flights. Similar to global market trends, Chinese SAF demand has begun rising rapidly, while supply-side capacity has not kept pace.
Statistics indicate the global SAF market will reach roughly RMB 100 billion in 2025. "Global SAF demand this year is several million tons, but existing capacity can only satisfy 40% to 50% of demand. In this supply-constrained market phase, whoever achieves mass production first while controlling costs will capture the largest share."
On capacity expansion, Green Carbon Synthetic Energy's first self-operated factory is currently under construction in Inner Mongolia, where abundant agricultural and forestry waste feedstock can further reduce SAF production costs. When this factory officially begins operation at year-end, Green Carbon Synthetic Energy will have an annual SAF production capacity of several thousand tons**. Green Carbon Synthetic Energy's unique catalysts and process ensure that within this capacity range, a single factory can achieve strong economics and unit economics.
After its first several-thousand-ton demonstration factory begins operation, Green Carbon Synthetic Energy will initiate its next funding round and begin planning a ten-thousand-ton demonstration production facility. Simultaneously, Green Carbon Synthetic Energy has launched external technology licensing services for its thousand-ton-scale core process package, helping address comprehensive utilization challenges for small and medium-scale biomass waste sites domestically.
Linear Capital has consistently focused on projects capable of delivering "affordable ESG." After closely observing Green Carbon Synthetic Energy's development as a shareholder, we became more convinced of Dr. Xia's team's grasp of technology commercialization and clarity of commercial thinking, and firmly decided to follow on with our full pro-rata allocation. We continue to believe in Green Carbon Synthetic Energy's Fischer-Tropsch synthesis process and its global engineering replication capabilities, and look forward to the landing of a benchmark project with thousand-ton annual SAF production capacity. We also believe Green Carbon Synthetic Energy can leverage its globally leading process advantages combined with domestic supply chain cost advantages to become a world-leading SAF technology, product, and process supplier.