Future Greens targets 2026 launch after securing €569k for waste-to-energy systems

Sheffield-based startup Future Greens has raised €569,000 (£500,000) to advance its bioreactor technology that converts unavoidable food and brewery waste into on-site heat and power, with first commercial deployments planned for 2026.
The funding comprises €387,000 (£340,000) in equity and a €182,000 (£160,000) UK government grant.
Investors include PXN Group, One Planet Capital, Baltic Ventures, Venture.Community and Lifted Ventures.
The capital will be used to refine the company’s anaerobic digestion technology, which it says operates up to ten times faster than conventional systems, and to expand its team.
Co-founder and chief executive David Dixon said the idea emerged from first-hand experience in food production.
“Waste handling and energy are two of the biggest costs faced by producers,” he said. “Our goal is to tackle both through compact waste-to-energy reactors that can be installed on site.”
Future Greens’ approach uses modular, AI-enabled digesters designed to process by-products such as spent grain, yeast and wastewater.
By converting organic waste into biogas, the systems aim to cut disposal and trade effluent costs, lower carbon emissions and improve energy resilience for food and drink producers.
The funding round comes amid continued, though selective, European investment in technologies that turn organic waste and biogenic emissions into usable energy.
Recent activity includes backing for landfill methane capture and flexible biogas-based power generation, highlighting sustained interest in emissions reduction and operational efficiency across the sector.
Co-founder and chief operating officer Gabrielė Barteškaitė said the new funding would help accelerate delivery for customers already lined up.
“We are starting with breweries, where waste volumes are high and the case for on-site renewable energy is particularly strong,” she said.
Founded in 2022 by graduates of the University of Sheffield, Future Greens grew out of a previous venture in vertical farming, where high energy and waste costs prompted the team to develop their first in-house bioreactor.
The company plans to install its first system at a brewery in 2026.
Including the latest round, Future Greens has now raised more than €912,000 (£800,000) in funding and has received a further €114,000 (£100,000) in non-dilutive support through collaborations with the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre and the South Yorkshire Innovation Programme.