By Simon Jessop
LONDON (Reuters) – French-U.S. climate tech start-up Dioxycle said it has raised $17 million in funding to help develop sustainable ethylene from recycled carbon emissions.
The raise comes as investors increasingly look to profit from steps to green high-emitting but hard-to-abate sectors across industry that will be crucial for the world to hit its climate goal but which have, to date, received less capital.
The Series A round was co-led by venture capital firms Lowercarbon Capital and Breakthrough Energy Ventures Europe, with participation from Gigascale Capital, it said in a statement.
“Global ethylene supply chains face two critical problems: dependence on volatile fossil fuels and highly centralized production. Dioxycle is solving both of those problems at the same time,” said Clea Kolster, partner at Lowercarbon Capital.
Launched in 2021, Dioxycle aims to make the chemical, used widely in the production of textiles and plastics, at a price equal to or lower than the current cost of production from fossil fuels, a market it says is worth $180 billion.
As the world’s most used organic chemical, removing fossil fuels from its production would cut global carbon emissions by 800 million tons a year, or more than 2% of the world’s annual output, it said.
Using a low-temperature electrolyzer, the company said it is able to extract chemicals including ethylene from carbon emissions, water and renewable electricity. Going forward, the company would look to expand its product range, it added.
It intends to use the money raised to build its first on-site demonstration project and an industrial prototype.
“Dioxycle is the most exciting electrolysis-based carbon capture and utilization company we have come across,” said Carmichael Roberts of Breakthrough Energy Ventures.
“The team has developed a low-temp electrolyzer to convert carbon emissions into commodity chemicals with impressive economics unlocking the potential to disrupt the $5 trillion-plus commodity chemical & fuel industry.”
(Reporting by Simon Jessop; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
