Y Combinator is a startup accelerator that provides funding and mentorship to early-stage companies. It offers a program where startups receive guidance from experienced entrepreneurs and investors. The organization helps founders in their business models and develop their products. Y Combinator serves industries such as technology, healthcare, and finance.

Y Combinator

Fifty Years is a venture capital firm that backs founders using technology to solve the world's biggest problems.  Entrepreneur-run and based in San Francisco, Fifty Years invests in companies that inspire. Specifically, they fund companies that, if successful, will be both massively profitable and make a serious dent in achieving one or more of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Fifty Years

Bossa Invest manages investment portfolios and provides asset management services to clients. It analyzes market trends to inform investment decisions. Bossa Invest serves multiple sectors, including finance, technology, and real estate.

Bossa Invest

Aera VC invests at the frontier of deep technology and sustainability to accelerate the world to a better future. Those who create breakthrough ideas the fastest will generate new markets, exponential financial returns, and a better future for us all. Aera VC will be right behind them. We believe sustainability is the largest investment opportunity of our lifetime. We have been generating outstanding financial returns since 2016 while investing in the pursuit of a better world. The companies we have backed are the best illustration of what we invest in, aspire to, and can achieve.  We are excited that these companies are only just getting started and we have already established a truly global footprint. 70% of Aera Portfolio companies are co-founded by women or those from minority backgrounds.

Aera VC

Pioneer Fund is a fund of 420+ Y Combinator alumni, investing in the top Y Combinator startups.

Pioneer Fund

Lowercarbon Capital funds research and invests in technologies to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere. The world has ignored the scientists, inventors, and entrepreneurs who are pursuing solutions to lower emissions, remove carbon, actively cool the planet, and save human, animal, and plant life.

Lowercarbon Capital

Backed by several multi-billion dollar family offices, 8090 Partners is a private partnership of industry-leading families and entrepreneurs focused on direct investments and other opportunistic transactions. 8090's flexible mandate and long-term horizon amplify and complement our partners' single family office investments.

8090 Partners

Collaborative Fund is an investment fund that provides funding to companies based on creativity and collaborative consumption. The fund centers around two macro themes which drives business innovation in the coming years: the growth of the creative class and the concept of collaborative consumption. Craig Shapiro founded it in New York in 2010.

Collaborative Fund

Union Square Ventures is a private equity and venture capital firm focused on early-stage, growth capital, late-stage, and startup financing. The USV portfolio companies create services that have the potential to fundamentally transform important markets.  It exclusively invests in the internet world, focusing on the applications layer of the web, internet services, and web services that create large networks as well as the mobile sector. Some of its invested companies are based in New York, San Francisco, London, Berlin, and places in between. It typically makes a starting investment in portfolio companies of $1 million. In certain Series Around cases, the firm may make a starting investment between $2.5 million to $3 million. It typically invests up to $20 million in any single company. Union Square Ventures was founded in 2003 and is based in New York, United States.

Union Square Ventures

EQT is a private equity firm. They invest in companies and regions where there is an industrial approach. Their investment strategies include private capital, assets, credit, and public value, guided by an ownership approach and an industrial growth strategy.

Climate Capital is an investment firm that supports companies that directly or indirectly reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.

Climate Capital

Nexwell is a sustainable investment group that focuses its human and financial capital on initiatives that have a measurable impact on decarbonizing the planet.

Nexwell group

MCJ backs extraordinary founders driving the transition of energy and industry and tackling the inevitable impacts of climate change. We discover and invest in startups rewriting industries to be cleaner, more profitable and more resilient. We strengthen our investments through the MCJ Collective — a vetted member network that connects talented tech and industrial leaders with our portfolio and with one another. Our media platform including the Inevitable podcast spotlights key perspectives critical to our portfolio and the transition at large, reaching tens of thousands of professionals multiple times per week. Learn more at mcj.vc

Noya

Noya is reversing climate change and pulling CO2 out of the sky by retrofitting existing pieces of equipment to capture carbon. The company's mission is to accelerate the world's transition to a carbon-negative existence.

Noya develops direct air capture (DAC) technology using cost-effective and readily available materials by using a modular and scalable design. The company uses industrial cooling towers as CO2-capturing devices and adds CO2-absorbing chemicals, converting CO2 back into gas through a regeneration process. The company works with clean energy and CO2 storage companies to permanently remove CO2 from the atmosphere. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/23459">November 2023</a>, the company designed modular DAC units with a capacity to remove ~60 tons of CO2 annually.

Clear the air on carbon capture, reuse, and storage

Carbon Capture, Utilization & Storage (CCUS)

Johnson Matthey partners with California’s Noya to scale up sorbent manufacturing

Johnson Matthey

To enhance sustainability efforts by providing clean water, carbon removal credits, and advancing direct air capture technology, benefiting both environmental goals and industry decarbonization.

To scale up sorbent production for Noya's upcoming pilot and commercial plants, leveraging Johnson Matthey's 200 years of experience and existing automotive industry manufacturing techniques.

Solutions that capture CO2 from ambient air, including from indoor spaces.

Noya develops direct air capture (DAC) technology using cost-effective and readily available materials by using a modular and scalable design. The company uses industrial cooling towers as CO2-capturing devices and adds CO2-absorbing chemicals, converting CO2 back into gas through a regeneration process. The company works with clean energy and CO2 storage companies to permanently remove CO2 from the atmosphere. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/23459">November 2023</a>, the company designed modular DAC units with a capacity to remove ~60 tons of CO2 annually.Noya aims to open its first <a href="https://news.mit.edu/2023/mit-startup-noya-plans-pull-carbon-air-1101#:~:text=the%20material%20itself.%E2%80%9D-,Scaling,-with%20urgency">testing</a> facility in 2024 to remove ~350 tons of CO2 per year. Following that, the company plans to launch a commercial-scale facility with an annual capacity of 3 million tons of carbon.Key customers and partnershipsThe company works with organizations such as Shopify and Watershed, which have purchased Noya’s carbon removal credits. Noya also signed a multi-year agreement with a university to help them purchase carbon offsets to help meet sustainability goals.Funding and financialsNoya’s most recent funding was in April 2023, when it raised USD 11 million in a Series A funding round co-led by Union Square Ventures and Collaborative Fund. The proceeds were intended to support team expansion, scale up testing and manufacturing capabilities, and deploy its first commercial pilot in 2023.

Prometheus follows a next-gen electro-chemical-based approach to convert CO2 into carbon-neutral fuel using renewable energy and carbon nanotubes. Industrial fans suck ambient air and blow it across a waterfall that absorbs CO2 and additional water. The electricity “charges” and “energizes” captured carbon with hydrogen molecules from water to create long-chain alcohols. Alcohols are then harvested using a special type of membrane called the Maxwell Core. Its pores are carbon nanotubes, which allow alcohol through while rejecting water. A final catalyst step combines the alcohols and recovers water. The company claims that it is the only one in the world that can separate alcohol from water economically. This step can be customized to produce gasoline, diesel, or jet fuel.In <a href="https://prometheusfuels.com/news/our-finished-commercial-scale-stack-design-unlocks-lowest-cost-fuel">October 2022</a>, Prometheus completed the design of the commercial-scale cell and stack Titan Fuel Forge.Key customers and partnershipsIn June 2019, Prometheus partnered with Boom Supersonic (a company building the world’s fastest supersonic airliner) to supply carbon-neutral fuel for the flight test program of one of its demonstrator aircraft scheduled for 2021. In July 2021, the company entered into a purchase agreement with American Airlines to supply 10 million gallons of carbon-neutral jet fuel.&nbsp;

Prometheus Fuels

UK-based Storegga Geotechnologies (Storegga) provides carbon capture and storage (CCS) solutions for energy-intensive sectors such as petrochemicals, agriculture, and airlines. In July 2020, Storegga acquired Pale Blue Dot Energy (PBDE), through which the company became the lead developer of the Acorn CCS Project (the UK’s first large-scale carbon capture project). In August 2022, Storegga launched a new entity <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11990">“Storegga Americas” </a>to explore clean fuel opportunities and to scale up its operations across the US, Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean.Key customers and partnershipsIn June 2021, Storegga partnered with Carbon Engineering, a Canadian direct air capture (DAC) startup, to initiate engineering and designing a new facility in North East Scotland, which could remove between 500,000 and one million metric tons of CO2 from the atmosphere annually. The project was backed by a UK government grant of GBP 249,000 received in May 2021. In July 2021, Acorn CCS signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with SEGAL and FUKA gas terminals to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from its operations. The two gas terminals will become the first customers for Acorn CCS. In August 2021, Storegga signed an MoU with Virgin Atlantic to secure the airline as an early customer.&nbsp;In March 2022, Storegga <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9378">partnered</a> with Mitsui to commercialize its proprietary DAC technology. In June 2022, the company signed an MoU with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11230">Aker Carbon Capture</a> to deploy CCS projects in the UK. Other partners include Sval Energi, Talos Energy, Freeport LNG and <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10230">ScottishPower</a>.In August 2023, Storegga together with Sval Energi, a Norwegian energy provider, and Neptune Energy, a UK-based oil and gas explorer, <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21191">secured</a> their <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16698">previously applied</a> CO2 storage license to develop the Trudvang CCS project in the Norwegian North Sea. In October 2023, the company signed an MOU with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/22815">Svante</a> to develop CCUS projects by combining Svante's carbon capture and removal filter technology and Storegga's CO2 transportation and storage expertise. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/32814">August 2024</a>, the company partnered with PETRONAS and ADNOC to evaluate offshore CO2 storage capabilities in Malaysia.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Storegga Geotechnologies

Carbfix is an Icelandic carbon sequestration company that stores captured carbon dioxide (CO2) permanently underground. During the pilot phase of Carbfix, findings revealed that over 95% of the injected carbon dioxide mineralized within two years, in contrast to the previous understanding that it would take several hundred or thousands of years. Carbfix began as an academic-industrial research project in 2007 and was established as a subsidiary of Reykjavik Energy (OR), an Icelandic geothermal company, in 2019. Carbfix was spun out of OR in January 2020.As the technology requires vast amounts of water to dissolve carbon dioxide, in June 2021, Carbfix’s technology was validated to be used with seawater—applicable in regions where fresh water is scarce. The use of seawater with Carbfix’s technology is experimental, with a field pilot project scheduled in Iceland for 2022.Key customers and partnershipsIn August 2020, Climeworks, a Swiss company specializing in direct air capture (DAC) technology, along with ON Power, a Swiss geothermal energy provider, signed an agreement with Carbfix to scale up CO2 removal and storage. From September 2021, the new facility, located in Iceland, is expected to remove 4,000 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere per year. In 2017, Climeworks and Carbfix also partnered to operate a small-scale DAC and storage facility of 900 metric tons per year, also in Iceland.In July 2021, Aker Carbon Capture, a Norwegian carbon capture company, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Carbfix to collaborate on cost-efficient carbon capture and storage solutions. Elkem, a Norwegian environmentally responsible manufacturer of materials, has also partnered with Carbfix to reduce emissions of its alloys plant in Grundartangi, Iceland.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21311">August 2023</a>, the company partnered with the University of Edinburgh (UoE) and the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre to evaluate CO2 mineralization in Iceland. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/23535">November 2023</a>, Carbfix injected dissolved CO2 in seawater underground in partnership with the universities of Geneva and Switzerland, Iceland GeoSurvey (ISOR), and University College London.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/28975">April 2024</a>, Carbfix partnered with Deep Sky, a Canadian carbon removal project developer to explore potential CO2 mineral storage options in Canada.Funding and financialsIn July 2022, Carbfix was awarded a grant of ISK 16 billion (USD 117 million) from the EU Innovation Fund for the deployment of its Code Terminal project (a CO2 transport and storage hub) to capture 3,000,000 tons of CO2 per annum by 2031.

Carbfix

Global Thermostat specializes in Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. The company employs a proprietary process using amine-based adsorbents to capture CO2, which is then concentrated for various applications, including storage and conversion into fuels, chemicals, and other products. This technology aims to transform CO2 from a climate liability into a valuable resource, contributing to a circular carbon economy​In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/29707">May 2024</a>, the company was acquired by Zero Carbon Systems, a developer of CO2 removal technologies, for an undisclosed sum.Key customers and partnershipsAs of August 2021, Global Thermostat had two pilot facilities in California and Alabama, each with the capacity to remove 3,000–4,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. Since 2019, Global Thermostat has been in a partnership with ExxonMobil to scale commercially.In April 2023, Global Thermostat unveiled one of the world’s largest DAC units that permanently captures CO2 from the atmosphere. The unit had been under trial since the end of 2022, capturing 1,000 tons of CO2 per annum at the company’s US headquarters in Commerce City, Colorado. The DAC unit launched was a commercial-scale demonstration, with the company taking on pre-orders for DAC systems.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/26251">February 2024</a>, the company commissioned its first containerized T-Series system for the multi-ton scale DAC, with two microalgae producers, MicroBio Engineering Inc and Cyanotech Corporation, using this system to improve the production of microalgae biomass for renewable fuels in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.Funding and financialsMost recently in May 2023, the company received an undisclosed investment from Sumitomo Corporation, via its US-based venture arm Presidio Ventures. The two companies had also signed a letter of intent (LoI) to identify and develop CCS projects globally.

Global Thermostat

Remora’s devices capture carbon emissions directly from truck tailpipes. They can be fitted onto tailpipes of existing trucks to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) for 600–1,200 miles before an offload. Remora’s solution was initially funded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and tested at the agency’s National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Lab.The company’s technology has a capture efficiency of 80% and can offload the captured CO2 while refueling—to be sold to concrete producers and other end users. The proceeds from the sale of CO2 are expected to be shared across fleet owners and customers once commercialized. Funding and financialsIn February 2024, the company raised an undisclosed amount in a Series A funding round led by Voyager Ventures.&nbsp; Key competitors: None comparable (Remora is the only startup that captures carbon from truck tailpipes)

Remora

Solutions that capture CO2 from flue-gas stacks including both industrial stacks and vehicle tailpipes.

Solutions that “recycle” captured CO2 to produce commercial products other than sustainable fuel, such as proteins, plastics, building materials, etc.

Solutions that permanently store captured CO2 underground.

Solutions that “recycle” captured CO2 to produce sustainable fuels

Recycles captured CO2 emissions to produce sustainable fuels and other products

INCUMBENTS_PRESENT

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

<div>
 An MIT startup, Noya, specializing in direct air capture (DAC), has teamed up with Johnson Matthey, a sustainable technologies firm based in the UK. This collaboration aims at producing Noya's unique carbon-capture sorbent using Johnson Matthey’s extensive experience and production techniques.
 The partnership's goal is to ramp up the production of the sorbent for Noya's imminent pilot and commercial plants. Johnson Matthey, with its two centuries of expertise, will contribute significantly to Noya's progress over the coming ten years.
 Noya's system not only provides clean water and grid services but also produces high-quality carbon removal credits. The joint venture is anticipated to speed up the development of DAC technology. Concurrently, it will establish its pilot facility in the San Francisco Bay Area and choose sites for its initial commercial facilities.
</div>

Noya

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