Claes Fredriksson On Raising $65 Million To Create Carbon-Neutral Liquid Fuel From CO₂ And Green Hydrogen To Run The World’s Transportation

Claes Fredriksson has never taken the traditional path. Born in Sweden, raised across different continents from Australia to India, and later entrenched in global corporate life, his story is one of adaptability, grit, and a deep-seated desire to make the world greener.

Claes is the founder and CEO of Liquid Wind, a pioneering company creating carbon-neutral eFuels. It has raised funding from top-tier investors like Alfa Laval, Carbon Clean, Elyse Energy, Hycap, Samsung, and Siemens Energy.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Claes Fredriksson built Liquid Wind to decarbonize shipping and heavy industry through scalable, green methanol production.
• His international upbringing and corporate experience taught him adaptability and the power of human relationships in business.
• Liquid Wind grew from a three-person idea to around 85 employees and $80M+ in funding, without following traditional VC paths.
• The business model is simple: develop eFuel facilities, sell them to investors, and scale up to 500 global plants.
• Culture and alignment were forged during COVID through distributed teamwork and shared mission.
• Claes believes clean tech success is a marathon, not a sprint—it takes much longer than expected, but the impact is massive.
• His message to aspiring founders: If the mission matters, the delays are worth it—just keep pedaling.

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About Claes Fredriksson:

Claes Fredriksson has a diverse work experience spanning various roles and industries. Claes founded Liquid Wind in 2016 and currently serves as the CEO, leading the company’s operations.

Similarly, Claes also founded FreeThem Generation in 2005 and continues to serve as the CEO. He previously served as the Owner and Publisher of Swedish Press from November 2012 to December 2020.

Additionally, Claes worked as the Director of Business Development at Seaflex Energy Systems from November 2015 to April 2018. He briefly served as the Managing Director of SOIC in August 2013.

Earlier in his career, Claes worked as a Business Development Consultant at Fortis BC, where he introduced innovative heating solutions and collaborated with property developers. He also worked as a Sales Manager at QuestAir Technologies, selling PSA systems for hydrogen and biogas purification.

Furthermore, Claes founded Freethem Wireless Inc. in 2002 and served as the Sales Director. He served as the CEO of LingoSystems BC from November 2003 to April 2004, where he developed collaborative software. He began his career as a Business Development Manager at Atlet AB from June 2001 to September 2002.

Claes completed his Bachelor’s degree at Aranasskolan from 1979 to 1982. He then pursued further education and earned a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering and Logistics from Chalmers University of Technology between 1983 and 1989.

Prior to his university education, Claes spent a year at the Royal Swedish Navy in 1982-1983.

Connect with Claes Fredriksson:

• LinkedIn
• Crunchbase
• TheOrg
• RocketReach

Read the Full Transcription of the Interview:

Alejandro Cremades: All righty. Hello, everyone, and welcome to The Dealmaker Show. Today, we have a very exciting founder joining us. We’re going to be talking about making the world a little bit more green and turning that into a successful business. Our guest today will share insights on his engineering background—how it has served him, even though he’s more of a sales kind of guy.

Alejandro Cremades: We’ll also dive into how he built something from nothing, all the way up to 85 employees, raising over $80 million. So a lot of good stuff ahead. Brace yourself for a very inspiring conversation, and without further ado, let’s welcome our guest today, Claes Fredriksson. Welcome to the show.

Claes Fredriksson: Thank you very much. Nice to be here.

Alejandro Cremades: You were originally born in Sweden, but you moved to Australia, then India, and then all over the world at a young age. How was life growing up for you?

Claes Fredriksson: I think life was very good. I obviously had the opportunity to go to many different places, see many different types of people, and I figured out fairly early that you have to adapt and adjust to where you are in order to fit in and be able to function.

Claes Fredriksson: Overall, it was a fantastic opportunity to experience different places, learn one or two languages at a fairly young age, and then bring that back when I was 13 to Sweden, where I went to school through high school and university.

Alejandro Cremades: How do you think moving through so many different places and constantly making new friends shaped who you are today?

Claes Fredriksson: I think it gave me openness—a bit of fearlessness or at least a willingness to try different things. And within that openness, it taught me never to take anything for granted.

Claes Fredriksson: You never know what’s around the next corner when you’re in a totally different country, so you’ve got to be aware and ready for that.

Alejandro Cremades: How did you decide that engineering was the path to follow, even though you’ve never really used the degree professionally?

Claes Fredriksson: I think it’s a classic story. Your father is an engineer, and it seems to be going okay for him. We had a good life moving around the world thanks to his background.

Claes Fredriksson: It seemed like the right thing to do. The idea was always: you can learn something else after getting your engineering degree, but it’s good to have it because then you’re always safe.

Alejandro Cremades: It sounds like what really excited you was more the sales and deals side of things. Is that right?

Claes Fredriksson: Yes, I thought it was fun to do deals relatively early. I did deals essentially to extend my pocketbook and my wallet.

Claes Fredriksson: I liked to go skiing, and to do that, I’d invite 50 friends to come along. If 50 friends came, I got to go for free. When I started windsurfing, I asked, “What does it cost to buy one of these?”

Claes Fredriksson: It was a bit expensive, but if I sold five or ten to friends I knew, I could get one for free. That’s kind of how it worked. It was a way of making what I wanted to do happen, even though I might not have had the means.

Alejandro Cremades: So you started out more on the corporate side. You ended up moving all over—Europe and beyond. You worked for Tetra Pak for about 10 years, which is quite a bit of time. What was the future you were living into that kept you there so long?

Claes Fredriksson: Tetra Pak, when I joined, was one of those very exciting companies in Sweden. There were still many countries left on the map that hadn’t been populated, so to speak, by Tetra Pak. The big vision for those of us who came in as trainees was to go to another country and build up the market there.

Claes Fredriksson: There was always that excitement, and also the excitement of participating in different countries. Working closely with colleagues in other markets, we could figure out that what works in New Zealand might work in Australia; what works in Canada might work in the U.S.

Claes Fredriksson: We had a global view of the market very early on, because everybody needs milk and juice in a package. That was kind of the common theme for us.

Alejandro Cremades: What did you learn while moving through the ranks at Tetra Pak? What was the experience like?

Claes Fredriksson: The biggest thing I learned is that it’s all about people. Companies have big names, but in the end, it’s about the people—and which people make the difference. Who do you need to convince to get things done?

Claes Fredriksson: Internally, who do you need to convince to get things done? Externally, it’s the customers. So no matter what you’re trying to do—whether you’re selling, you’re an engineer, or something else—it’s about the people you need to influence or work with.

Alejandro Cremades: How did you end up in Canada and then suddenly find yourself running solo for 10 years?

Claes Fredriksson: It wasn’t that straightforward. I was in Canada with Tetra Pak, and one day I found myself sitting opposite my boss, who said, “I don’t think we need you here anymore.”

Claes Fredriksson: And I thought, “Whoops—what do I do now?” He said they could try to find me a job somewhere else in Tetra Pak, or I could take the package. I took the package. It was a long and generous package, but it meant starting over somewhere I hadn’t anticipated.

Claes Fredriksson: Being in Canada wasn’t so bad. We had kids there. Actually, we moved back to Sweden for about two years, but the whole family said, “No, no—Canada is where we want to be.”

Claes Fredriksson: So we moved back to Canada—not on a fancy expat contract, but just as independents, trying to make a life there. That’s how I got started as a one-man band.

Claes Fredriksson: There was quite a bit of solo work in the early tech field. I also considered doing something with mobile phones and Bluetooth technology.

Claes Fredriksson: I tried a few different things. They kept us alive, but that was about it.

Alejandro Cremades: And then you returned to Sweden and got started on what would become Liquid Wind. What were the sequence of events that brought it to life?

Claes Fredriksson: Toward the end of my time in Canada, I did more and more clean tech consulting and deals.

Claes Fredriksson: I was always on the lookout for ways to reduce CO2. What’s the CO2 reduction mechanism? I loved the concept of algae and algae fuel—how algae consumes CO2 faster than any other biological entity that grows.

Claes Fredriksson: I was initially involved in algae farming, but I ended up not pursuing that. In the meantime, I got a job in Sweden and moved back. It was in a completely different field—at the East India Company, the ones that did sailing ships to China 150 to 250 years ago.

Claes Fredriksson: While I was there, the opportunity to do something in shipping related to CO2 reduction came up. I used to say I like working with innovation, with people I like, and with shipping on the ocean.

Claes Fredriksson: At a 2015 conference, I came across the concept of taking CO2 and bundling it with hydrogen to make methanol.

Claes Fredriksson: I thought, “Bingo—that seems like a good one.” That conference introduced me to what I had been looking for—though I didn’t know it at the time. From that day on, I’ve been dedicated to it.

Alejandro Cremades: What does the clean tech space mean to you?

Claes Fredriksson: I think the clean tech space is a collection of thousands—maybe millions—of people who want to do good for the world and have realized we need to do things differently than we do today.

Claes Fredriksson: For me personally, it was about CO2 reduction and entering the energy space related to that. I wanted to see what we could do to replace fossil fuels as we know them today.

Claes Fredriksson: That’s really been my passion and focus for almost the last 10 years.

Alejandro Cremades: For those listening, what ended up being Liquid Wind’s business model? How do you make money?

Claes Fredriksson: We make money by developing facilities or factories that take CO2 and combine it with hydrogen—produced in the factory—to create fuel.

Claes Fredriksson: Essentially, we develop the plant and sell it to a large investor. The investor builds the factory and sells the fuel. Then we do it again and again. Our vision is to build 500 of those factories.

Alejandro Cremades: I know something like this takes time, discipline, and patience. At what point did you feel like, “I think we’re onto something here”?

Claes Fredriksson: The idea was very clear to me. I was fascinated by the concept that we, as human beings, can fast-track the geological process of making fuel.

Claes Fredriksson: Combining the two molecules—CO2 and hydrogen—was one thing. Then, when trying to build a business, the real moment was when our concept of bringing together value chain players began to work.

Claes Fredriksson: Even when we were just three people, we could gather the key players. They came to our little party, as we called it—we were the party fixers—and they were interested in working with us.

Claes Fredriksson: We had companies like Siemens—with 400,000 people—come to our event. We got Topsy there, Carbon Clean, and other players we were targeting. There was real excitement.

Claes Fredriksson: At that time, we were quite ahead of the electro-fuel curve, which is now more recognized.

Alejandro Cremades: You’ve built this from scratch to 85 people. How has the journey of building the team been—thinking through departments, divisions, and scaling?

Claes Fredriksson: When you start, you just say, “I want to grow, get a bit bigger, build a factory, sell it, and that’s it.” But as you go along and people join, you build together with them.

Claes Fredriksson: One guy came early who understood the technology and could evolve our thinking around it. Another joined who was good at business plans and had worked in electrical power trading. He said we’d need SPDs, we’d need to project finance, and that’s how we’d do it.

Claes Fredriksson: We grew gradually by finding people who believed in what we were doing and wanted to be part of it. As you grow, you get investors, and then boards, and they have more views.

Claes Fredriksson: It’s really a step-by-step process. You have a direction, but you don’t know exactly what you’re going to do. You figure it out along the way and find the people who help you get there. Again, it’s about people—and the believers who take you there.

Claes Fredriksson: Definitely choppy waters. I mean, with what’s been happening in the economy since we started in 2017—with both COVID and wars and other things—it’s not an easy game to go through.

Claes Fredriksson: But if you have enough people who believe enough, and who have both the passion and the energy to push it through, I think you can make phenomenal things happen.

Alejandro Cremades: And what about when it comes to culture and keeping everyone aligned and excited about the future that lies ahead?

Claes Fredriksson: That’s an interesting question because we say that we were born during COVID. We were only a few people until COVID, and then when COVID came, that’s when we started growing. Now we have people in all these different locations, and we were all “born” on Teams—or Skype—or whatever we call it. Zoom, I guess.

Claes Fredriksson: So, because of that, we had weekly check-ins on Skype, Teams, or Zoom to keep everyone connected. We used to meet twice every fall and three times every spring, bringing everyone together to stay aligned and build cohesion.

Claes Fredriksson: That has worked surprisingly well. Now that we’re approaching 85 people, we can’t meet as often, so we’ve had to break it down and meet in sub-departments across different areas.

Claes Fredriksson: We now have two offices in Copenhagen, two in Sweden, and one in Finland. So we’re reasonably spread out. And yes, one of the ongoing challenges is continuing to keep everyone together and moving at the same pace.

Alejandro Cremades: And in terms of people—since we’re on the topic—let’s talk about raising money and investors, because obviously that’s also about people. How much capital have you guys raised to date?

Alejandro Cremades: And what has been your experience going through the motions of raising that money?

Claes Fredriksson: We’ve raised about 60 million euros—63 to 64 million US dollars. We’ve also had one sales event where we sold a project, and that was in the 20 million area. So, in total, about 80 million has come in.

Claes Fredriksson: You asked what the experience was like, right?

Alejandro Cremades: Yes—what has the experience of raising all that money been like?

Claes Fredriksson: Okay. So we started off believing we were like any other startup—we’d go to a VC and raise some money. But no, that didn’t work. They said, “You don’t have any IP. You haven’t invented anything. We don’t have any money for you.”

Claes Fredriksson: We were very confused because we thought we had a great thing. But they said, “No, you’re not the kind of company we normally invest in.”

Claes Fredriksson: So we couldn’t get through that route. We actually started off with crowdfunding.

Claes Fredriksson: We used crowdfunding and a couple of angels. We put our business on a crowd platform—one in Sweden and one in Canada—and raised our first batch of funds to get going.

Claes Fredriksson: Then we met with business angels who believed in what we were doing, and we moved forward a bit more. Eventually, we got to the equipment vendors or strategic suppliers we work with, and they decided to participate.

Claes Fredriksson: So it’s been a very different kind of funding compared to the usual. Now we have four OEMs—original equipment manufacturers—who are shareholders. These are large players. We also have one big partner that is a power utility.

Claes Fredriksson: And we have only one financial investor. The rest are from where we started—with smaller players. So, it’s been quite different from the conventional innovation-driven fundraising approach.

Alejandro Cremades: Now, when it comes to getting investors and employees—everything you’ve done—the vision is everything. It’s what gets people excited. So to that end, Claes, if you were to go to sleep tonight and wake up in a world where the vision of Liquid Wind is fully realized, what does that world look like?

Claes Fredriksson: It’s what we call a world without dependency on fossil fuels. In my vision, the world would be fairly similar to what we have today—but running on non-fossil fuels.

Claes Fredriksson: We would run on electrically produced liquid fuel. We would take electricity from all the renewable sources we have and use them more efficiently. We’d have more wind, more solar, more wave power—whatever renewables are available—and we’d convert a good portion of that into liquid fuels.

Claes Fredriksson: Those fuels could run in the same processes we have today—especially in hard-to-abate sectors like shipping, where battery electric isn’t feasible, in heavy-duty trucking, and in other fuel-based sectors.

Claes Fredriksson: And also in countries that are often overlooked—places without the electric infrastructure to support battery electric cars.

Claes Fredriksson: So it’s fairly similar. And that’s been our vision—that the fuel we produce works exactly like conventional fuel.

Claes Fredriksson: You need to make certain modifications, but we produce a man-made fuel. It’s not extracted from the ground and it doesn’t harm the atmosphere.

Alejandro Cremades: I’m a firm believer that timing is everything—especially for founders. It’s about being in the right market at the right time. And with climate change and increased consciousness around it, how do you think all of that has helped you execute with the wind at your back?

Claes Fredriksson: That’s an interesting one. I think our timing was perfect when we started—early in the green boom. And by luck, the biggest shipping company in the world, Maersk, decided to go for green e-methanol in 2019. We started then too.

Claes Fredriksson: We spoke to them a lot in 2019. When they announced their shift to fully green, we thought, “We’re done—we just go with them.”

Claes Fredriksson: But they had slightly different price expectations for fuel than we could meet.

Claes Fredriksson: So we couldn’t fulfill their needs. They went to other, cheaper countries—or tried to make it themselves.

Claes Fredriksson: So that was a perfect moment for us, but there wasn’t enough willpower to stick with it. The shipping sector can always find a cheaper solution, and without supporting regulations, they gradually chose cheaper paths.

Claes Fredriksson: But that moment did result in hundreds of ships being ordered that run on the type of fuel we produce. It’s slowed down now, but those ships are here to stay—for 30 years.

Claes Fredriksson: I think we’re just in that last valley of death—or chasm—that we’re crossing now. This will take off.

Claes Fredriksson: With what’s happening in the U.S. and many funds now flowing into Europe, we’ll get an extra boost.

Claes Fredriksson: And then there’s the energy security issue for Europe. We need to produce our own energy—our own liquid energy. We can make electricity, but we also need liquid fuel.

Claes Fredriksson: That’s the space we’re in. So even though it’s been a rocky road—with wars, COVID, and crazy prices—we’re still on the bike and still going. We haven’t fallen over.

Claes Fredriksson: If we can just maintain our pace, we’ll see a phenomenal upswing in the next few years—maybe two, three, or four. But it will come, and it will come in a big way.

Alejandro Cremades: Now that we’re talking about the future, I want to take a moment to reflect on the past. Let’s say I bring you back in time to when you’re landing in Stockholm from Canada. You’re just stepping off the plane, and you see your younger self coming out of the gate.

Alejandro Cremades: You’re able to stop that younger self and give one piece of advice—before launching the business or perhaps Liquid Wind. What would that be, and why?

Claes Fredriksson: That’s an interesting one. You talked about timing—what happens and when. But there’s also the question of how long things take.

Claes Fredriksson: I was convinced we would have a factory up and running by 2019.

Claes Fredriksson: Then we shifted it to 2020. Now, if you ask me, maybe it’s 2028 or 2029. Who knows when we’ll actually have one?

Claes Fredriksson: So we are 10 years late. And the famous saying, “everything takes twice as long when you’re inventing something,” is not true—it takes three times as long.

Claes Fredriksson: So the advice might be, “It’s going to take three times as long. Why don’t you go back to Canada and do something else?”

Claes Fredriksson: But I don’t think I would do that. That might be the wise thing—if you have something better to do, then do it.

Claes Fredriksson: My daughter is in a similar space. She’s doing her own business. She’s seen what I’ve done and how long it’s taken. But she’s still in this space, and I still tell her—give it a try.

Claes Fredriksson: Because in the end, it’s worth it.

Claes Fredriksson: When you’re sitting in a big corporate office—at Tetra Pak, for example—it’s nice and well-organized. You have a good job. You go home at a decent time.

Claes Fredriksson: But you’re never as alive or as excited as when you do your own thing. Whether it takes two, five, or eight years—it’s about how much fun you have.

Claes Fredriksson: And hopefully, how much joy and hope you can spread to others around you. That’s the big difference.

Claes Fredriksson: So I’d say, “It’ll take you longer than you think—but go for it. It’s still worth it.”

Alejandro Cremades: I love it. So Claes, for people listening who would love to reach out and say hi, what’s the best way to do so?

Claes Fredriksson: Email is a good way. LinkedIn is another.

Alejandro Cremades: What’s the email for folks listening to take note of?

Claes Fredriksson: Claes—C-L-A-E-S—at liquidwind.com.

Alejandro Cremades: Amazing. Well, easy enough. Claes, thank you so much for being on The Dealmaker Show. It has been an absolute honor to have you with us.

Claes Fredriksson: And can I say one more thing? If you want to be with us—and if you happen to have a spare penny or two, or a couple of million—we’re always looking for funders and investors in our projects.

Claes Fredriksson: We’re selling a project right now. We have another one coming in 2026, and two more in 2027. So we have lots of space for people who want to join.

Alejandro Cremades: Amazing. Well, Claes, thank you so much. It’s been an absolute pleasure to have you here.

Claes Fredriksson: Thank you very much. Good to be here.

*****

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