With 43 million euros in EU funding and 1.2 million euros from VCs, this startup plans to turn CO2 emissions into gold – TechCrunch
The global problem of excess CO2 in the atmosphere is ongoing and a large area that needs to be addressed, in quantities pumped out by industry. It is hoped that if carbon dioxide can be converted at the point of emission, we can respond to the climate crisis much faster and create a sustainable carbon economy.
There are a few companies trying to solve this problem. Zurich-based Climeworks is capturing CO2 from the air through commercial carbon dioxide removal technology and has raised $784 million to date. US-based company Lanzatech is doing the same thing, turning carbon into a raw material. It raised $310.4 million.
Now a BioTech company based in Copenhagen SecondCircle that it also takes a novel approach.
It claims to be able to capture CO2 from industrial emission devices at the point of emission using ‘synthetic biology’ to grow biocatalysts (bacteria). They then convert carbon dioxide into chemical compounds that are sold back to industry. If it is scaled up, this could even turn emissions into an income opportunity.
The company has now closed a €1.2 million Pre-Seed round led by Berlin-based early-stage investor Atlantic Labs. But it’s much more to play than that. It also has a 43 million euro EU grant to expand the process, as it is part of a consortium that receives cash from the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program. Dubbed “PyroCO2”, the project aims to demonstrate the large-scale conversion of industrial carbon emissions into value-added chemicals and materials.
SecondCircle . Founders
Torbjørn Ølshøj Jensen, Co-Founder and CEO of SecondCircle, said in a statement: “We strongly believe that we can only solve the global CO2 problem by building on innovative approaches. innovation to create sustainable value from unavoidable emissions”.
Synthetic biotechnology has begun to be widely applied in a number of fields. SecondCircle is part of the NNF Biosustain Center for Biosustainability at the Technical University of Denmark. Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Copenhagen, the company is run by the founding team Alex Toftgaard Nielsen, Stephanie Redl, Torbjørn Ølshøj Jensen.
“By capturing carbon at the source and converting it into high-value products, SecondCircle has the potential to reduce customer emissions and at the same time transform the unit economics of carbon capture on its head. by finally having a profitable use case. Max Kufner, Principal at Atlantic Labs, added.
