Investor Overview — Prepared by Sean McNeill, Founder & CEO
Next-generation feedstock for energy, fuel & chemicals.
Zenco Group cultivates seaweed in the open ocean, pelletises it into a proprietary densified feedstock, and converts it into biomethane, biochemicals and synthetic fuel — all compatible with today's grids, pipelines and vehicles. Grown, not extracted.
The Problem
The world needs energy resilience.
Waste-based biofuels don't scale
Supply is limited and contested, and the byproduct is largely unusable.
Feedstock is unreliable
Crop and waste inputs face quality and supply issues; food-crop competition undercuts energy-crop economics.
Existing infrastructure is underused
Gas networks and forecourts are scalable routes that current biofuel models fail to exploit.
Our Solution
Grown, Not Extracted.
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1
Maximises value per tonne
Converts into biomethane and drop-in fuels, with biochemicals as the primary value driver.
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Regenerative feedstock at scale
Seaweed captures CO₂ and cleans water, grown globally and pelletised into a high-energy fuel.
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Instant deployment
Drop-in biomethane and biofuel compatible with today's grids, pipelines and vehicles — no retrofit, no green premium.
The Platform
One marine crop. Multiple energy products.
Six stages, three OpCos — cultivation to renewable gas, fuel and chemicals.
Seafarm Cultivation
Cultivated Ulva spp. seaweed, grown at scale, cleaning water and capturing CO₂ as it grows — no arable land or freshwater used.
Drying & Pelletising
Seaweed and sorghum blended, dried and compressed into the Zenco Seaweed Pellet — MVP produced, methane yields proven.
Conversion & Refining
Anaerobic digestion converts pellets to biomethane and biochemicals. Captured bio-CO₂ and electrolysed hydrogen are converted into drop-in synthetic fuels through RWGS and Fischer-Tropsch.
Why Seaweed Wins
Competitive with conventional energy crops — without their trade-offs.
Competitive yield, zero land footprint
Cultivated kelp shows methane yields up to ~365 GJ/ha/yr — within the top end of maize silage's range, without using a single hectare of arable land.
No freshwater irrigation
Ulva spp. is grown in seawater without freshwater irrigation, unlike conventional energy crops that compete with drinking water demand.
No food-vs-fuel trade-off
Offshore cultivation doesn't displace food production or push farmers onto marginal land.
RED III / ISCC aligned
Offshore cultivation structurally satisfies GHG savings, land-use and traceability criteria under RED III methodology.
Sources: peer-reviewed AD trial data on cultivated kelp (ScienceDirect, 2020) and published maize AD yield ranges (MDPI review, 2018). Zenco's certified feedstock lab trials are complete, proving methane output and digestate value; the published kelp comparison is distinct from Zenco's Ulva-based pellet trials.
Traction
What's real today.
Certified lab trials complete
Methane output and digestate value proven; MVP of the Zenco Seaweed Pellet produced.
Signed Gas Purchase & Offtake Agreement
An international corporate — signed five-year Gas Purchase & Offtake Agreement for the first project, with a minimum £25m/year revenue floor, inflation-linked, and a five-year renewal option.
Heads of Terms with Centrica
British Gas Trading, for biomethane and certificates on the second site buildout of gas production.
Expressions of interest
Vattenfall and other European biogas producers, for feedstock supply.
Zenco Group Ltd is the UK TopCo
HMRC Advance Assurance for SEIS and EIS already granted; Zenco Global Group Spain, S.L. operates as the EU HQ, incorporated via the Rising UP in Spain programme.
Zenco Capital DIFC — project-finance platform
The capital management / investment platform coordinates deployment through regional HoldCos into ring-fenced project SPVs. Funding mix and investor commitments remain to be established; IP development and platform scaling to TRL 9 are funded through the seed round.
Market Opportunity
A supply-constrained, mandate-backed market.
Regulatory demand for renewable gas and fuel is fixed by law — EU RED III and RePowerEU set binding procurement targets. The constraint industry-wide is feedstock supply, not demand.
Flagship Asset
Project Keystone, Able Humber.
Flagship AD facility in active early-stage development — progressing through pre-FEED and SPV-level fundraising, with strong local and infrastructure backing from North Lincolnshire Council and Cadent, the regional gas DNO.
Portfolio
Twelve identified sites, one platform template.
Illustrative 2027–2033 base case. All commissioning dates are targets, subject to funding, permissions and site-specific FEED. Project-template economics are pending site-specific studies; seafarm returns remain provisional pending model reconciliation.
EU & UK Track
Americas Track
MENA & Africa Track
Deployment & Capital Structure
One ownership chain. A phased 2027–2033 deployment.
Zenco Group Ltd holds the IP, brand and governance. Zenco Capital DIFC coordinates capital deployment through regional HoldCos into asset-owning Seafarm, Feedstock and Bioenergy SPVs, with regional OpCos responsible for day-to-day operations.
Illustrative licence-income run-rate: 2028 £3m · 2029 £6m · 2030 £9m · 2031 £13.5m · 2032 £16.5m · 2033 £21m. Intercompany licence fees are eliminated on consolidation.
£2.16bn is a planned capex target, not funds raised, AUM or asset valuation. Funding mix and investor commitments remain to be established. Deployment depends on funding, permissions, site-specific FEED and construction; non-recourse financing is targeted where negotiable.
Leadership
The team delivering this.
Sean McNeill
Founder & CEOBusiness leader and entrepreneur with over 10 years as CEO in the sustainability sector. Proven track record raising equity capital and securing large-scale project contracts.
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Alina Donets
Co-Founder & CIO14 years' sustainability investing at Lombard Odier, Allianz Global Investors and Pictet. Scaled fund AUM from $400m to $1bn in 16 months. MSc HEC Paris, CFA charterholder.
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Carl Mook
Chief Operations Officer30 years' leadership delivering complex technical solutions across oil & gas upstream, midstream and downstream.
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Shaun Stapleton
Chief Development Officer30 years in UK construction; 15 years around land and planning, owning the route to smooth licensing and Ready-to-Build status.
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Celine McAnenly
Chief Finance OfficerChartered Management Accountant (FCMA) with 30+ years' board-level experience across global multinationals and scale-ups.
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Becki Jarvis MSc
Chief Science OfficerMarine biologist focused on sustainable aquaculture. Former Warrant Officer at the UK Marine Management Organisation; leads Zenco's marine crop strategy.
LinkedIn ↗Governance
Advisory Board
Paul Hetherington
Advisory Board & Angel InvestorLong-time CEO and Board Chair across government-owned organisations in the UK.
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Lord Darren Mott OBE
Advisory Board MemberFormer CEO of the Conservative Party and a Member of the House of Lords.
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Rich Harland
Advisory Board MemberInvestor and strategic advisor across impact investing, clean energy and technology.
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Gabriela Sanchez
Chief Legal Officer15 years at the intersection of marine fuels, energy transition and energy regulation. Led USD 1bn+ financings, chaired Compliance Committees, and co-founded a renewable energy company developing solar and battery storage projects.
LinkedIn ↗
ESG & SDG Goals
Grown, drop-in fuels at price parity.
Zenco replaces extracted oil and gas with grown, drop-in fuels that run on the same infrastructure at price parity — while pulling CO₂ from the air and ocean.
SDG 7 & 13 — Clean Energy + Climate
Drop-in RNG and renewable eFuels displace fossil fuels with no infrastructure change.
SDG 12, 14 & 15 — Circularity + Oceans
Uses marine biomass and converts residues into biochemicals, avoiding land/food-crop competition.
Governance + Risk
Bankable long-term offtakes, hedged downside, and a compliance-led approach to standards.
Risk Considerations
What a rigorous investor should weigh.
These considerations will be addressed as part of investment conditions.
Site control & consenting
Marine concessions and land/planning consent are not yet secured at every site; timelines vary materially by jurisdiction.
Feedstock supply timing
Cultivation capacity must scale ahead of or alongside Bioenergy hub demand; a shortfall would require purchased biomass at lower margin.
First-of-kind execution
Construction and commissioning risk on early hubs, including grid connection and certificate scheme qualification.
Commodity & certificate pricing
Returns are sensitive to wholesale gas, certificate and fertiliser gate prices, and shipping cost between sites.
Template vs. site-specific economics
Pipeline sites are costed on the Bioenergy/Seafarm templates pending their own FEED studies and may vary once site-specific.
The Ask
We are looking for £1.75m today — the single step to a £300m bond programme.
Zenco is seeking £1.75m to complete IP development to TRL 9 and bring the Humber site to Ready-to-Build status, ahead of the planned £300m bond programme. Investment structure and terms are open for discussion and subject to definitive transaction documents.
Request the term sheetUse of funds
Working capital & IP — £350k
IP registration and pellet formulation optimisation, taking the feedstock from TRL5 to TRL7.
Platform scale-up — £650k
Continued IP development, self-funded through this raise rather than dependent on a grant timeline, taking the IP from TRL7 to TRL9.
Site readiness — £750k
Planning amendments, legal fees and remaining work to bring the Humber site to Ready-to-Build.
Let's Talk
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