Swiss startup Neustark secures $69 million to develop its carbon capture tech for the cement industry
The Bern-based startup Neustark has just secured €69 million in funding. The specialists in carbon capture and storage techniques in concrete won over Decarbonization Partners (a Blackrock and Temasek partnership and specialist investment fund), as well as Blume Equity. Other participants in the round include previous investors Holcim, Siemens Financial Services, Verve Ventures and ACE Venturesalso, while UBS also contributed through debt financing.
Founded in 2019, Neustark has developed a patented solution that captures CO2 at point source and then permanently binds it to mineral waste via an accelerated mineralization process. Basically, the company captures CO2 from partnering biogas plants, then liquefies and transports it to construction waste recycling sites. At the latter, carbon dioxide is injected into concrete aggregates from demolished buildings or other mineral waste.
Neustark’s technology then triggers an accelerated mineralization process, binding the CO2 permanently to the aggregates. The carbonated recycled aggregates can then be used to build roads or to produce new recycled construction materials. As such, this mineralization process stores the captured CO2 for hundreds of thousands of years.
Neustark already operates 19 carbon capture and storage facilities in Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein and Germany, with a further 40 sites under construction across Europe. The company has already sold nearly 120,000 tons of carbon removal to date, making it one of the fastest growing companies in this sector in Europe.
While Neustark has set itself the objective of sustainably eliminating one million tons of CO2 by 2030, these significant funds will enable the startup to propel its expansion and invest in new markets, particularly in Asia-Pacific and North America.
French startup Ademeure, which builds modular wooden housing on an industrial scale, has raised €5 million
Last spring, the French startup Ademeure raised €5 million with investments from Stellar Impact (a family VC managed by Telos Impact), as well as contributions from its previous investors Enthéos and Genetio. The Nouvelle-Aquitaine region also participated in the funding round.
Ademeure has been developing affordable, sustainable and environmentally friendly construction solutions since 2017. In 2021, the company shifted its attention towards modular construction on an industrial scale, first by targeting individual homebuyers, then by opening up to BtoB customers (local authorities, social housing landlords and property developers).
Ademeure offers homebuyers a range of tiny houses and low-carbon standalone homes built off-site with a wooden frame and ranging from 11 to 115 m² in size. These housing units are produced in its factory located in Langon, France, on a former Airbus site.
Thanks to this funding round, the startup plans to create around 40 new factory jobs and to intensify its efforts in the sector concerning buildings for collective use (childcare centers, senior residences, emergency housing and sharehomes).
German startup Alcemy raises $10 million to decarbonize cement production using AI
Alcemy, a Berlin-based startup founded in 2018, has just raised $10 million to propel the deployment of its innovative cement decarbonization solution. The funding round marks an important step for the company and was led by Norrsken VC, with participation from the specialist climate tech investment funds Galvanize Climate Solutions and AENU.
Alcemy’s AI-powered solution provides predictions throughout the entire production process, from the grinding process to the processing of the concrete on the construction site. The startup aims for cement and concrete producers to gradually reduce their clinker content, resulting in a 65% reduction in emissions.
Clinker is responsible for a large part of the cement industry’s CO2 emissions, for two reasons: the decarbonation of limestone at high temperatures releases CO2, and clinker is produced in large kilns which are more often than not powered by fossil fuels. Alcemy has recently partnered with Spenner, Germany’s fifth-largest cement manufacturer, to produce a low-clinker, low-carbon cement mixture.
Alcemy will use these latest funds to continue research and development, and to enter new markets – with the US eyed as the first port of call. Across the Atlantic, the startup has just signed a contract with Titan, which will deploy its tool in one of its cement plants in Florida.
There’s more…
Swedish startup Sensorita raises $3.25 million to tackle construction site waste with digital twins – Read more on Techcrunch
Serbian startup Lupa raises $1.8 million for its construction site data management solution – Read more on The Recursive
Sostark raises €2 million for its safety solutions for construction site workers – Read more on Silicon Canals
British-Chilean startup ObraLink receives a $2 million investment to propel construction automation – Read more on MyStartupWorld
Spanish startup Buildlovers raises $600,000 to connect builders, architects and banks to streamline the homebuilding process – Read more on LatamList
