Licella

What Licella does

Licella Holdings Ltd, founded in 2007 and headquartered in North Sydney, Australia, is a privately held biotechnology company that develops and commercializes catalytic hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) technology under the brand name Cat-HTR. Its proprietary platform uses water under elevated temperature and pressure, in combination with catalysis, to convert abundant, low-cost waste feedstocks — including biomass residues and end-of-life plastics — into a bio-intermediate oil that can be refined into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), renewable diesel, bio-naphtha, marine biofuels, biochemicals, and recycled materials. The company positions Cat-HTR as the world's leading HTL technology and operates it across three solution areas: biofuels & biochemicals, advanced recycling, and modular commercial deployment.

Licella monetizes Cat-HTR primarily through a B2B technology licensing and strategic partnership model. Revenue mechanics span licensing fees, technology deployment agreements, joint development agreements, and ongoing technical support to enterprise partners across aviation, maritime, heavy transport, packaging, and chemicals. The company pursues a mix of owned-and-led projects (such as Project Swift in Queensland, the Altona advanced recycling project in Victoria, and the wholly owned Arbios Biotech HTL facility in Prince George, Canada) alongside co-development partnerships with Shell Catalysts & Technologies, Mitsubishi Chemical Group (via Diamond Edge Ventures), Quadrise, Amcor, a Japan Airlines-led Japanese consortium, and Mura Technology. Engineering partners such as Technip Energies are engaged for FEED and scale-up activities.

Strategically, Licella is in a pre-commercial to early-commercial scaling phase. Its near-term growth is catalyzed by A$16 million in ARENA grant funding across 2025, strategic capital from Mitsubishi Chemical Group's CVC, full ownership of Arbios Biotech acquired in August 2025, and supportive Australian federal policy (the A$1.1 billion Cleaner Fuels Program). With 11-50 employees and revenue not publicly disclosed, the company remains a venture- and grant-backed scaling platform whose financial trajectory is tied to converting feasibility-stage partnerships into operational biorefineries across Australia, Canada, the UK, and Japan.

Name

Licella

Legal name

Licella Holdings Ltd

Website

https://licella.com.au

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Licella Holdings Ltd licenses its proprietary Cat-HTR hydrothermal liquefaction technology to enterprise partners, converting biomass waste and end-of-life plastics into bio-oil for SAF, renewable diesel, marine biofuels, and biochemicals across Australia, Canada, the UK, and Japan.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Hydrothermal Liquefaction Technology

NAICS

Chemical Manufacturing (325)

akta.pro primary industry

Cellulosic Biofuels & Renewable Fuels (2G ethanol, SAF intermediates) (IMAMALAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Bio-based Platform & Commodity Chemicals (e.g., bio-ethylene, bio-propylene, bio-BTX, bio-methanol) (EUAAAIAA), Biochemicals & Bio-based Platform Chemicals (cellulose sugars, lignin derivatives, organic acids) (IMAMALAB), Biomass & Waste-to-Energy Plant EPC (EUAEAAAI), Biofuel Co-products & Byproduct Processing (DDGS, Glycerin, CO2, Lignin) (EUAAAHAJ)

Keywords

• Hydrothermal liquefaction technology
• Advanced plastic recycling
• Biomass waste valorization
• Renewable bio-oil production
• Low-carbon biofuel technology

Headquarters

HQ city

Sydney

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. Technology Licensing: Licella licenses its proprietary Cat-HTR technology to partners globally for deployment in commercial biorefineries and advanced recycling facilities. Revenue is generated through licensing fees, technology deployment agreements, and ongoing technical support.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Licella develops and commercializes the proprietary Cat-HTR™ catalytic hydrothermal liquefaction platform, licensing it for industrial deployment and project development. The process uses water-mediated conversion to transform biomass waste and end-of-life plastics into bio-oil, advanced biofuels, biochemicals, biomaterials, and recycled hydrocarbon products.

Product overview

Licella operates as a technology company offering the Cat-HTR™ platform as its core technology for hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL). The platform transforms abundant waste feedstocks into three main product streams: bio-oil (the primary bio-intermediate), advanced biofuels (including sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel for marine/transport), and biochemicals/biomaterials. Licella commercializes its technology through owned projects (Project Swift in Queensland, Altona Project in Victoria, Arbios facility in Canada) and licensing/partnership arrangements with industry leaders including Shell, Mitsubishi Chemical Group, Mura Technology, and Amcor.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Cat-HTR: World's leading hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) technology platform that enables sustainable transformation of abundant waste feedstocks to advanced biofuels, biochemicals and recycled materials.
• Project Swift

Products and services

• Cat-HTR™ Platform Licella's catalytic hydrothermal liquefaction process technology is licensed and deployed with industrial partners to transform biomass waste and end-of-life plastics into a bio-intermediate for advanced fuels, chemicals, and recycled materials.
• Cat-HTR Bio-oil Bio-intermediate A renewable oil produced from biomass waste through hydrothermal liquefaction, serving as a fossil-oil replacement intermediate for biomaterials, biochemicals, and advanced biofuels.
• Advanced Plastic Recycling Solution Licella's process solution for packaging companies, recyclers, and resource-recovery operators converts end-of-life plastics into liquid and gaseous hydrocarbon products and recycled materials using Cat-HTR technology.

Quantifiable outcome

• SAF could meet up to 65% of aviation's fuel demand by 2050
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and secondary.

• Australian Federal GovernmentcoreOthers · 17 September 2025Australian government announced $1.1 billion Cleaner Fuels Program to boost domestic production of low carbon liquid fuels including SAF and renewable diesel. Licella welcomed this investment recognizing critical role of LCLF in decarbonization.
• Arbios BiotechcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 August 2025Licella acquired Canfor's 50% interest in Arbios Biotech, making Arbios a wholly owned subsidiary of Licella. This strategic transition unified Licella's Cat-HTR platform under a single global strategy for advanced biofuels. Arbios operates the world's largest HTL facility in Prince George, Canada.
• Technip EnergiessecondaryImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 3 July 2025Leading technology and engineering company engaged for Project Swift Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) phase in regional Queensland.
• Japan Airlines / Marubeni / Mitsubishi Chemical / Chugoku Lumber / Boeing Japan / Obayashi ConsortiumsecondaryStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 April 2025Japanese consortium concluded a MOU on preliminary business feasibility study for manufacture and sale of SAF, bio-naphtha, and renewable diesel from domestic forest residues, potentially using Licella's Cat-HTR technology.
• QuadrisecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 27 March 2025Licella and Quadrise signed a Joint Development Agreement to explore Licella's Cat-HTR bio-intermediate as a potential cost-effective renewable feedstock for Quadrise's bioMSAR and bioMSAR Zero technologies, focused on the low sulfur marine biofuel market. The agreement was amended in August 2026 with an updated testing schedule including laboratory work in late 2026 and marine diesel-engine pilot tests.
• AmcorsecondaryStrategic or Co-development Partner · 14 February 2025Licella signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Amcor Australia & New Zealand towards investment in Licella's first Australian facility for advanced plastic recycling, supporting Amcor's responsible packaging solutions.
• Shell Catalysts & TechnologiescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2025Collaboration with Shell to develop a global, low-carbon, biomass-to-biofuels commercial solution with strong focus on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The partnership is developing a new, economically attractive pathway to produce SAF through an integrated biomass-to-advanced biofuels commercial solution.
• Mura TechnologysecondaryChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 February 2025Licella congratulated Mura Technology as their first commercial facility entered commissioning phase in the UK, representing deployment of advanced plastic recycling technology.
• Advanced Recycling Victoria (ARV)secondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerARV established a plastic resource recovery plant in Altona, Victoria, using Licella's Cat-HTR technology to convert end-of-life plastics into liquid and gaseous hydrocarbon products. Environmental Protection Agency Victoria (EPA) approved the Development Licence.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Direct peers

• Enerkem: Canadian waste-to-biofuels company that converts municipal solid waste and biomass into methanol and ethanol using a thermochemical platform. Comparable to Licella in feedstock-flexible waste-to-fuels approach and in operating commercial-scale demonstration facilities.
• SunFire: German power-to-liquids company producing e-fuels (e-SAF, e-diesel) from green hydrogen and CO2. Comparable to Licella in developing commercial-scale low-carbon fuel capacity for hard-to-abate sectors using proprietary process technology.
• Carbios: French enzymatic plastic recycling company producing monomers from PET waste. Comparable to Licella's advanced recycling business line (Altona, Amcor partnership) in targeting circular economy solutions for end-of-life plastics and partnerships with packaging majors.
• Mura Technology: UK-based advanced plastic recycling company deploying hydrothermal-like conversion of end-of-life plastics into feedstocks. Licella explicitly highlights Mura's first commercial facility (UK commissioning) as part of the broader advanced recycling ecosystem, and both target the same plastic-to-feedstock value chain with similar customer types.
• HIF Global: Chilean e-fuels company producing carbon-neutral gasoline, SAF, and diesel from green hydrogen and captured CO2. Comparable to Licella in pursuing large-scale project development (multiple geographies) and securing offtake for synthetic low-carbon fuels targeting aviation.
• Velocys: Small-scale gas-to-liquids technology company focused on converting biomass and waste gases into SAF and renewable diesel. Comparable modular Fischer-Tropsch platform targeting the same hard-to-abate aviation and heavy transport end markets as Cat-HTR.
• LanzaTech: US carbon capture company using gas fermentation to convert industrial off-gases into ethanol that is upgraded to SAF and renewable diesel. Directly comparable in targeting the same aviation/marine SAF offtake market as Licella via an adjacent advanced-biofuels pathway.

Broad incumbents

• Neste: Finnish global leader in renewable diesel and SAF production from waste and residues. Comparable to Licella as the dominant incumbent in renewable fuels whose offtake/licensing decisions affect the addressable market and competitive dynamics for emerging players like Licella.
• Topsoe: Danish catalysis and process technology licensor with proprietary hydroprocessing and SAF pathways (e.g., HydroFlex, MOSAIK). Comparable to Licella as an established technology licensor operating in the same renewable fuels and circular chemicals space, with broader portfolio across hydrogen and refining.

Emerging players

• Bloom Biorenewables: Swiss biomass-to-chemicals startup converting lignocellulosic biomass into furan-based biochemicals. Comparable to Licella's biochemicals/biomaterials vertical, focusing on the biomass-to-platform-chemicals opportunity with novel catalytic technology.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/licella
• Xx.com/licella4

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Licella