Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) solutions provider Neustark announced today that it has raised $69 million in an equity funding round led by Decarbonization Partners, a climate tech-focused growth equity investment partnership between BlackRock and Temasek. The company plans to use the funds to expand its team, enhance its offerings and expand geographically to meet the increasing global demand for CDR.

Founded in 2019, Switzerland-based Neustark’s technology uses recycled materials such as concrete from demolished buildings as permanent storage for the CO₂ removed from the atmosphere. The solution utilizes a mineralization process, through which captured biogenic CO2 from partnering biogas plants is liquified and transported to partnering construction waste recycling sites for use as an add-on to the existing recycling process. Neustark’s technology triggers an accelerated mineralization process, thus binding the CO2 permanently to the pores and surface of the granules. The carbonated granules can then be used by recyclers to build roads or to produce recycled concrete.

Neustark said that the new growth equity funding will support its goal to scale to permanently remove 1 million tons of CO2 in 2030. Neustark has 40 future plants under construction across Europe and has sold nearly 120,000 tons of carbon removal to date.

Johannes Tiefenthaler, Co-CEO and Founder at Neustark said:

“We turn the world’s largest waste stream – demolition concrete – into a carbon sink. In the last year, we have already deployed our unique solution at 19 sites. This growth investment will take us into the next exciting phase of our mission, helping us to further scale our impact across Europe, enter new markets in North America and Asia Pacific, and develop new solutions to store even more CO2 in mineral waste streams.”

Decarbonization Partners was launched by BlackRock and Temasek in 2022, establishing a late-stage venture capital and growth private equity partnership to invest in companies providing technologies and solutions that help accelerate the transition to a net zero economy by 2050. The fund announced earlier this year that it raised $1.4 billion at the final close of its inaugural fund, Decarbonization Partners Fund I, well ahead of its $1 billion fundraising target.

The growth equity round was led by Decarbonization Partners, a partnership between BlackRock and Temasek. Climate tech growth investor Blume Equity also participated in the round. The new investors join Neustark’s existing backers, which are all continuing their support: Holcim, Siemens Financial Services, Verve Ventures, and ACE Ventures. UBS contributed capital to the round via debt financing.

Meghan Sharp, Global Head & Chief Investment Officer of Decarbonization Partners, said:

“With carbon capture, utilization and storage being one of our key investment focuses, we believe that we have found a perfect partner to help scale the industry – and ultimately its decarbonization impact – in the years to come. Neustark not only helps organizations integrate carbon removal to address their hard-to-abate emissions, but their solution also contributes to decarbonizing the construction industry.”

The funding round also included participation from climate tech growth investor Blume Equity as a new investor, joining existing investors Holcim, Siemens Financial Services, Verve Ventures, and ACE Ventures. UBS also contributed capital to the round via debt financing.