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Zero Petroleum

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Fossil-free synthetic petroleum from air and water

London, United KingdomFounded 2020Aviation
Valuation $25–50M Last recorded · 2026
Headcount <100 Current team size
Total funding $10–50M Disclosed equity funding
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About Zero Petroleum

Zero Petroleum is a British technology company founded in 2020 by former Formula 1 engineer Paddy Lowe and Professor Nilay Shah OBE, the Head of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London. Lowe, with a distinguished 32-year career in F1, held senior technical roles at Williams, McLaren, and Mercedes, contributing to 12 World Championships. His expertise in high-performance engineering, combined with Shah's leading authority in chemical engineering and decarbonization, forms the foundation of the company.

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The company manufactures 100% fossil-free, carbon-neutral synthetic fuels, a process it terms "Petrosynthesis". This technology uses renewable energy to power the extraction of hydrogen from water via electrolysis and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through direct air capture. These components are then converted into hydrocarbons like gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel using a proprietary version of the Fischer-Tropsch process. The resulting products are chemically identical to their fossil-based counterparts and can be used as a "drop-in" replacement in existing engines without any modifications.

A significant milestone was achieved in November 2021, when Zero Petroleum, in partnership with the Royal Air Force (RAF), conducted the world's first flight powered entirely by synthetic fuel. The flight, using an Ikarus C42 microlight aircraft, earned a Guinness World Record and demonstrated the fuel's viability, showing no performance difference compared to standard fuel. This success has led to an ongoing partnership with the RAF to scale up production and support the military's goal of becoming net-zero by 2040. The company has also entered into agreements with Rolls-Royce to test its synthetic fuels in aviation, marine, and defense engines, and has a sponsorship deal with the Sauber Motorsport F1 team.

Zero Petroleum operates its first continuous production facility, Plant Zero.1, in Bicester, UK, and has a US headquarters in Santa Monica, California. The company has secured funding through various rounds, including a seed round with investors like F1 champion Damon Hill OBE and grants from Innovate UK.

Source: Dealroom company data

At a glance

Founded
2020
Headquarters
London, United Kingdom
Sector
Aviation

Investors

3 investors on the cap table

From Dealroom's funding and investor records, grouped by the round each investor first entered.

Seed3 investors entered at this stage

  • TRTN Angels
  • Damon Hill OBE
  • UK Department for Transport
Team profiled 11 named & role-tagged
Founders Hidden — book a demo/100 quality score
Key operators 6 quality Hidden — book a demo/100
Potential founders Hidden — book a demo likely future founders
Startup mafia Hidden — book a demo alumni-founded startups
Talent movements Hidden — book a demo in · Hidden — book a demo out past 12 months

Source: Dealroom Talent Intelligence.

Global footprint

Workforce and web traffic by country
Workforce by country
2 countries with
team presence
🇬🇧 United Kingdom96.7%
🇩🇪 Germany3.3%
2 countries shown

Market sentiment

Posts on X, past 7 days

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Reading the room on X — pulling top posts and synthesizing themes…

Source: X recent search ranked by engagement (likes + retweets) · Synthesis by Claude · Cached for 1 hour

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