DUBLIN, Calif., Nov. 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Erg Bio, an innovator in biomass valorization and advanced bioindustrial technology, today announced it has closed a $6.5 million seed round led by Azolla Ventures, with participation from Chevron Technology Ventures, Freeflow, Plug and Play and strategic angel investors.
The funding will enable Erg Bio to scale its Aspire™ Technology, a proprietary low-temperature pretreatment and catalytic platform, that aims to transform agricultural and forestry wastes into affordable intermediates for synthetic aviation fuels and critical bio-based chemicals.
In addition to the promise of strengthening U.S. energy independence, Erg Bio’s technology contributes to cleaner, more efficient biomanufacturing by turning agricultural and forestry residues, materials that would otherwise go to waste, into high-value fuels and chemicals. This process enhances resource efficiency, supports rural economies, and diversifies sources of critical intermediates, while advancing both environmental stewardship and domestic energy resilience.
Transforming Abundant Feedstocks into Cost-Competitive Synthetic Fuels
“Our goal is simple yet transformative: turn the world’s most overlooked and abundantly available resources into cost-competitive synthetic aviation fuels and biochemicals,” said Vineet Rajgarhia, Co-Founder and CEO of Erg Bio. “With the support of our investors and partners, we’re accelerating U.S. bioindustrial manufacturing at a time when domestic capability is vital for energy security and economic growth. This investment allows us to strengthen technical validation and advance toward pilot-scale demonstrations.”
The core innovation behind Erg Bio’s Aspire™ Technology builds on foundational research from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI). Erg Bio has progressed that early work towards a commercial-ready platform capable of producing fuels and chemicals at scale. The system is feedstock-flexible, operating seamlessly with more than 30 different biomass types, an adaptability that improves supply-chain resilience while supporting cost-effective and flexible, regional and global deployment.
“Erg Bio’s process represents a leap forward in industrial biotechnology,” said Blake Simmons, Co-Founder and CTO of Erg Bio. “It’s engineered for scalability, efficiency, and integration of underutilized feedstocks. This investment enables us to expand our engineering and bioprocessing teams.”
Investor Perspective
“Erg Bio’s innovative manufacturing platform showcases how flexible non-food biomass technologies can reshape the supply chain for synthetic fuels and chemicals,” said Amy Duffuor, General Partner and Co-Founder of Azolla Ventures. “It reflects the kind of systems-level innovation needed to achieve cost-competitive scale and drive growth in the emerging bioeconomy.”
“The Erg Bio platform addresses a longstanding bottleneck in cellulosic ethanol production and has the potential to open up this large untapped market,” said Jim Gable, President of Chevron Technology Ventures.
About Erg Bio
Erg Bio Inc. is a California-based technology company advancing, scaling, and commercializing its Aspire™ Technology to produce cost-competitive synthetic aviation fuels and biochemicals from waste biomass. By transforming abundant feedstocks into critical intermediates for the fuel and chemicals industry, Erg Bio is helping build a resilient bioeconomy and secure industrial supply chains while promoting responsible resource use and environmental progress. Learn more at www.ergbio.com
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