Circularity Fuels raises $7M to scale dairy biogas into jet fuel

By Elena Vasquez

California-based Circularity Fuels has raised $7 million in seed financing to commercialize technology that converts raw dairy biogas into sustainable aviation fuel, advancing a Madera-area pilot toward airline supply markets.

The company develops modular, electrified reactors that convert waste carbon streams, including agricultural biogas, into SAF and other low-carbon fuels. The reactors transform methane and carbon dioxide into synthesis gas, which the company then processes into liquid fuel.

Fuel accounts for the vast majority of aviation’s emissions, while sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, generally comes from sustainable resources such as waste oils and agricultural residues. SAF producers estimate the fuel can cut lifecycle greenhouse-gas emissions by as much as 80% compared with conventional fuels, making it one of the sector’s principal decarbonization tools in the near to medium term.

What has Circularity Fuels actually demonstrated?

Dr. Stephen Beaton founded the company in 2023, and Circularity Fuels emerged from DCVC’s incubator program. Its technology targets methane and carbon dioxide from agricultural waste streams through compact, electrified reactors.

In June 2026, Circularity Fuels announced what it called the world’s first end-to-end conversion of raw dairy biogas into SAF. That result came from a six-month pilot at a dairy near Madera, California, and the company said the fuel met industry specifications for synthetic aviation fuel components.

The pilot marks a process milestone, but it does not represent commercial throughput at the targeted scale. The 75-barrel-per-day figure applies to the future commercial design.

DCVC Managing Partner Zachary Bogue said: “We backed Circularity because methane and CO2 are wasted today at nearly every dairy and landfill, and Stephen’s team turns both into jet fuel with simple, affordable reactors.” He called the approach hard engineering that can change industry economics and said DCVC backed Circularity from incubation through its first commercial plant.

How will the $7 million be used?

Over an 18-month development program, the new capital will fund three linked workstreams:

• Construct and operate a demonstration plant that produces jet fuel from biogas.
• Complete the engineering design for a commercial facility with 75 barrels per day of capacity.
• Pursue airline fuel supply agreements.

The 75-barrel-per-day figure is a design target for a future commercial facility, not operating capacity. The company still must build and operate the demonstration plant before it can produce at demonstration scale.

Founder Dr. Stephen Beaton said: “Every dairy already has the feedstock. What’s been missing is a way to turn it into jet fuel that makes economic sense for the farmer and the airline.” He added that the funding lets the company run its process at demonstration scale and design its first commercial plant. As conventional fuel supply becomes harder to secure, he said, fuel produced close to home from existing waste is worth more.

Circularity Fuels expects to break ground on its first commercial site in 2027, targeting agricultural biogas resources across the United States, Latin America and Europe. The company also plans to begin licensing its reactor technology to partners developing their own production facilities.

Who is backing the scale-up?

Trucks Venture Capital and DCVC led the seed round, with Sum Ventures and Automotive Ventures participating. The investment raises Circularity Fuels’ total capital raised to approximately $17 million, including nearly $7 million in grants from sources including ARPA-E and the National Science Foundation.

The new $7 million seed round is almost the same size as the nearly $7 million in grants already cited, bringing venture backing and grant support into one capital base.

Trucks Venture Capital Partner Puneeth Meruva said Circularity addresses a big, painful problem in a market where a string of SAF experiments has failed to reach scale. He called it the first practical attempt to solve SAF unit-economics problems and said Trucks would support the team’s aviation decarbonization work.

What has to happen before 2027?

The next test is execution. Circularity must operate its demonstration plant, complete the 75-barrel-per-day commercial design and secure airline fuel supply agreements. Its announced 2027 groundbreaking follows those steps, while reactor licensing could let partners develop production facilities under the technology.

The airline fuel supply agreement is the market milestone to watch: until Circularity secures one and begins work at its first site, 75 barrels per day remains an engineering target rather than operating capacity.