Carbontech startup Carbon Upcycling announced today that it has raised $26 million, with proceeds from the Series A funding round supporting the first commercial scale carbon capture and utilization deployments at cement plants in North America and Europe.

Founded in 2014, Calgary-based Carbon Upcycling delivers solutions aimed at decarbonizing hard-to-abate industries. The company’s all-electric solution mineralizes CO2 and combines it with industrial byproducts from sources including coal, steel and glass production plants, and natural materials, to create new materials with improved performance and a lower emissions footprint, including cement and concrete.

Building materials are a key source of global greenhouse gas emissions. Cement production, an ingredient in concrete, accounts for approximately 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions, with over 900 kg of CO2 emissions generated for every 1000 kg of material produced.

Apoorv Sinha, Founder and CEO of Carbon Upcycling, said:

“Closing this round is a major milestone on the road to becoming the most impactful carbon tech company of this decade. Over the next year, our mission is to demonstrate our technology’s versatility, scalability, and operational elegance. Proving significant, cost-effective decarbonization potential in the cement industry is possible without a green premium.”

The financing was led by BDC Capital’s Climate Tech Fund and Climate Investment.

Pascal Lanctot, Partner, Climate Tech Fund at BDC Capital, said:

“BDC’s role is to drive economic benefits for Canada by growing one business at a time. Apoorv and his team have positioned Carbon Upcycling for rapid growth. The scale-up of the company’s technology will enable cross-industrial collaboration between cement, steel, mining, and other heavy industries and help build a clean, low-carbon, circular economy.”

Carbon Upcycling has been selected for commercial deployments of its solution with building materials companies CRH and CEMEX for projects in Canada and the UK, respectively, the first to integrate carbon capture and utilization at cement plants.

CRH Ventures and CEMEX Ventures also participated in the financing, alongside Clean Energy Ventures, Amplify Capital, and Oxy Low Carbon Ventures.

Gonzalo Galindo, Head of Cemex Ventures, said:

“Carbon Upcycling provides a scalable solution that effectively reduces the carbon footprint of cement, and we are proud to play a part in the global scaleup of Carbon Upcycling’s technology and the largest mineralization project of its kind at our integral cement plant at Rugby, United Kingdom.”