Neustark raises $69 million for CDR market scale-up activity

Neustark, a Switzerland-based carbon removal provider, has raised $69 million (€64.3 million) in a funding round to underpin its rapid scale-up in the carbon dioxide removal (CDR) market.
The growth equity round was led by Decarbonization Partners, a partnership between BlackRock and Temasek.
Neustark said the funding will reinforce its continued growth path and support its mission to permanently remove 1 million tons of CO2 in the year 2030.
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.
In addition, UBS has contributed capital to the round via debt financing.
Neustark also has a strategic collaboration with Holcim to scale up its carbon removal technology globally, enabling building solutions that are both circular and low-carbon.
The Swiss CDR specialist has developed and deployed an IP-protected solution that allows the durable removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by capturing CO2 at point source, then binding it in mineral waste streams via an accelerated mineralisation process.
Biogenic CO2 is captured from partnering biogas plants, then liquefied and transported to construction waste recycling sites.
There, the carbon dioxide is injected into concrete granulates from demolished buildings or other mineral waste such as slag and slurry.
Neustark’s technology triggers an accelerated mineralisation process, binding the CO2 permanently to the pores and surface of the granules.
The carbonated, recycled aggregate can then be used to build roads or to produce fresh recycled building materials.
The mineralisation process stores the captured CO2 for hundreds of thousands of years, and the risk of reversal is proven to be slim to none, according to the organisation.
“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,” said Johannes Tiefenthaler, co-CEO and founder at Neustark.
Together with construction recycling partners, Neustark currently has 19 carbon capture and storage plants in operation across Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein, and Germany. A further 40 future plants are currently under construction across Europe, with a robust pipeline of projects beyond that.