London-based AP Ventures has held a final close on AP Ventures Fund III LP at $300m (€269.6m), with 13 portfolio companies already backed since the fund's initial close in 2024.
AP Ventures began life inside Anglo American Platinum's platinum group metals investment programme before spinning out as an independent venture firm in 2018 to invest in applications for those metals. Anglo American Platinum and South Africa's Public Investment Corporation, the state-owned asset manager, each committed $100m to the firm as cornerstone investors.
The firm is led by founder and managing partner Andrew Hinkly and founder and partner Kevin Eggers. It is headquartered in London, with offices in Johannesburg and San Francisco.
The fund
Fund III's limited partners are described as a mix of existing and new institutional investors, including sovereign wealth funds, corporates, pension funds and family offices. Individual commitments beyond the original cornerstones were not disclosed, nor was a target size or carry and fee terms.
The fund writes first cheques at seed and Series A and follows on through commercialisation and industrial scale-up. Its mandate covers low-carbon molecules, including hydrogen across production, storage, transport and end use; carbon capture and utilisation; and circularity and advanced recycling. The target end markets are energy-intensive, hard-to-abate sectors such as chemicals, steel, aviation and heavy mobility.
The portfolio
Of the 13 companies backed so far, two are UK-based. Cardiff's Reclinker uses the electric arc furnace process from steel recycling to turn demolition cement back into on-specification Ordinary Portland Cement, and Southborough-based Teragen Energy develops metal-supported solid oxide fuel cells for on-site power at data centres and other critical sites.
The remainder are largely US-based, including Chicago's Aether Fuels, which converts waste gases and biomass into drop-in liquid fuels; Boston's Lydian Labs, which makes synthetic fuels from electricity, water and carbon dioxide; San Francisco's Rubi Laboratories, which turns carbon dioxide into cellulose for textile fibres; CREW Carbon; and Rosy Soil.
Hinkly said support from returning investors alongside new institutional partners would allow the firm to keep backing technologies that make industry more productive and secure, from materials through to the processes and data that run it.
Why it matters
The close adds a sizeable London-managed pool of early-stage capital to industrial deep tech, a segment where UK founders often struggle to find investors willing to fund long, capital-intensive paths to deployment.
For founders, the practical significance is a specialist lead capable of seed and Series A cheques with follow-on reserves and access to industrial corporates through its LP base. With 13 investments already made during the fundraise, attention now turns to follow-on rounds for the existing portfolio as companies move from pilot to industrial deployment.
Original source: EU-Startups — https://www.eu-startups.com/2026/10/londons-ap-ventures-closes-e269-million-third-fund-to-back-early-stage-industrial-and-energy-tech-startups/
