Prelude Ventures invests in and supports early-stage startups with the greatest potential to mitigate climate change. Our goal is to help build the next generation of category-defining businesses.

Prelude Ventures

Breakthrough Energy Ventures is an investor-led fund made up of members of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, guided by scientific and technological expertise and committed to investing patiently in developing new ways to live, eat, travel, and build. Breakthrough Energy Ventures provides reliable and affordable power without contributing to climate change. Breakthrough Energy invests in new technologies that make power reliable and affordable for everyone while not warming the planet.

Breakthrough Energy Ventures

We invest in great companies in the pre-seed and seed stages.

Yes VC

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

Ahren Innovation Capital is an investment institution that supports transformational companies at the intersection of deep tech and deep science that will penetrate, or create, massive markets.  Ahren is a unique partnership of investment talent and best-in-class commercial scientists whose technologies are today valued in excess of $100BN combined. Ahren believes in taking asymmetric, considered, risk that will deliver superior rewards – capturing a generational opportunity to provide smart capital to deep technology. With a philosophy espousing the importance of relationships and trust, Ahren provides both patient and active capital to exceptional founders and teams, empowering them to succeed.

Ahren Innovation Capital

Breyer Capital is a premier global venture capital and private equity investor focused on catalyzing high-impact entrepreneurs in the United States and China. Founded by Jim Breyer in 2006, Breyer Capital makes long-term, idea-driven strategic investments in its chosen core areas: social media, entertainment/media, digital health, and financial technologies.  Breyer Capital actively partners with a diverse set of companies including early-stage startups building breakthrough technologies, fast growing companies, and established worldwide leading corporations. Its team enjoys helping to frame strategic investments anchored by the passion of founders and owner/operator teams, the insights of its network of world-class investors, and a conviction that artificial intelligence, machine learning, and virtual reality will transform technology and investment opportunities globally.

Breyer Capital

Quantum works with entrepreneurs to build companies that provide the sustainable energy the modern world needs. Through hands-on support from our team of cross-disciplinary experts, we help our partners enhance operational performance and accelerate progress so they can win in the fast-evolving Sustainable Energy Ecosystem. Solving the world’s biggest energy challenges will require new ways of thinking. Quantum’s deep experience investing across the entire Sustainable Energy Ecosystem sets us apart. We invest strategically to help ensure a sustainable energy future using private equity, credit & structured capital, and venture capital to keep advancing today’s energy for tomorrow’s world.

Quantum Energy Partners

Global Reserve Group is led by Jeffrey Harris who established the advisory and investment firm in 2012 following a 29-year career at Warburg Pincus. As a senior partner at Warburg Pincus he had a long history of successful investing in technology companies and was also instrumental in creating and building the firm's global energy practice and directly overseeing several billion dollars of equity investment in numerous successful oil and gas-related ventures such as Antero Resources, Bill Barrett Corp., Electromagnetic GeoServices A/S, Kosmos Energy, Laredo Petroleum, and Spinnaker Exploration.

Global Reserve Group

Grantham Foundation seeks to protect and improve the health of global environmental issues and supports individuals and organizations. It also supports communication and collaboration in environmental protection, with an emphasis on climate change. The foundation focuses on communications to enable the general public to understand that climate change represents the world’s primary environmental threat today and that mitigating and adapting to a changing climate will lead to a more sustainable and prosperous future. Grantham Foundation was founded in 1997 by Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham and is based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Grantham Foundation

Seven Seven Six is a venture capital firm. The firm features The Seven Seven Six Operator in Residence Program as a full-time, paid, one-year appointment.

Seven Seven Six

Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund is an investment initiative to accelerate technology development and deployment of new climate innovations through equity and debt capital.

Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund

Time Ventures is an investment fund for Marc Benioff. The company looks to invest in theB2B, hospitality, non-financial services, and commercial products and services sectors.

Time Ventures

YouWeb IV: Impact invests in environmental impact tech start ups.

YouWeb IV: Impact

Carbon Removal Partners is an investment firm.

Carbon Removal Partners

AENU drives systemic transformation in venture capital towards impact, accessibility and stakeholder-alignment, with long-term investment for tech-entrepreneurs who solve the climate crisis and advance social equality.

AENU

Heirloom

Heirloom aims to remove 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide using the world's most cost-effective Direct Air Capture solution, a mineralization process known as enhanced weathering.

Heirloom is a direct air capture (DAC) company that permanently removes CO2 from the atmosphere by leveraging carbon mineralization. The company states that its technology has the lowest peer-reviewed cost of any DAC process in the world.

Clear the air on carbon capture, reuse, and storage

Carbon Capture, Utilization & Storage (CCUS)

Climate tech company Heirloom opens US commercial carbon capture plant

Microsoft

Microsoft has entered a major long-term contract with Heirloom, a Direct Air Capture company, to purchase a substantial amount of CO2 removal, contributing to Microsoft's carbon-negative goal by 2030.

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

Heirloom is a direct air capture (DAC) company that permanently removes CO2 from the atmosphere by leveraging carbon mineralization. The company states that its technology has the lowest peer-reviewed cost of any DAC process in the world.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/23763">November 2023</a>, Heirloom opened the first commercial DAC facility in the US in Tracy, California. It utilizes limestone to absorb captured CO2. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/30998">June 2024</a>, the company announced the launch of two additional DAC facilities in Louisiana that will remove 320,000 tons of CO2 annually.Key customers and partnershipsThe company has attracted several early customers including Microsoft, Stripe, Shopify, Klarna, Milkywire, Sourceful, and Wise. Heirloom attempts to remove one billion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere by 2035.In February 2023, the company partnered with <a href="https://www.carbon-direct.com/insights/direct-air-capture-to-concrete-2-2">CarbonCure</a> Technologies, a company converting captured CO2 into green concrete products, to build carbon-removing concrete. In November 2023, the companies <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/23367">extended</a> their partnership to develop a DAC Hub in Illinois, US. In September 2023, Heirloom signed a multi-year deal with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21670">Microsoft</a> to remove ~315,000 metric tons of CO2. In October 2023, the company signed license and collaboration agreements with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/23293">Leilac</a>, a decarbonization technology company, to deploy electric kilns made from Leilac's technology at Heirloom DAC facilities. In November 2023, Heirloom powered its first DAC facility from renewable energy supplied by <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/23763">Ava Community Energy.</a> In the same month, the company received USD 26.6 million from <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24160">Frontier</a>, an advanced market commitment (AMC) for carbon removal technologies, for the removal of 26,900 tons of CO2 by 2030 from its next commercial facility.Funding and financialsHeirloom’s last funding round was in March 2022, when it raised <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9199">USD 53 million</a> in a Series A co-led by Carbon Direct Capital Management, Ahren Innovation Capital, and Breakthrough Energy Ventures. The proceeds were used to scale up R&amp;D activities.

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.Funding and financialsIn September 2021, Prometheus raised an undisclosed amount in a Series B funding round led by Maersk, Metaplanet, and BMW i Ventures. In June 2020, BMW i Ventures also announced an investment of USD 12.5 million into Prometheus.

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;Funding and financialsStoregga’s <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10468">most recent </a>funding round was in May 2022, when it raised GBP 51.3 million (USD 63.9 million) in its third funding round, led by Snam. In March 2021, Storegga raised an undisclosed amount from a funding round led by GIC, Mitsui &amp; Co, and Macquarie Group to deploy a DAC facility in the UK.

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

ANALYST_QUICK_TAKE

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

<div>
 
 A direct air capture (DAC) startup, Heirloom, has unveiled plans for two DAC facilities in Shreveport, Northwest Louisiana, at the Port of Caddo-Bossier. The facilities will be responsible for the removal of approximately 320,000 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere every year.
 The company's first phase involves an investment of USD 475 million to construct its first DAC facility in Louisiana, marking its second in North America. The construction of the second facility is to be accommodated under Project Cypress and is set to make use of USD 550 million US DOE funding.
 Expected to start construction by the close of 2024, the first facility will remove around 17,000 tons of CO2 annually, starting from 2026. The second facility, associated with Project Cypress, is under design phase and is expected to be operational in 2027, removing 300,000 tons of CO2 per year, downsizing to 100,000 tons of CO2 per annum subsequently.
 In line with this, Heirloom is set to collaborate with CarbonPoint, a startup dealing with carbon utilization and sequestration. The partnership would involve the storage of CO2 captured from the aforementioned facilities in Class VI underground wells.
 
</div> Analyst QuickTake: 
 The company commissioned its first commercial DAC facility in California in <a href="https: 
//sp-edge.com/updates/23763"> November 2023 </a> , shortly after signing a multi-year agreement with <a href="https: 
//sp-edge.com/updates/21670"> Microsoft </a> to remove ~315,000 tons of CO2. The company has also signed agreements to provide carbon removal to Stripe, Meta, Shopify, JPMorgan, McKinsey, Workday, H&amp;M, Autodesk, and others.

Heirloom

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