SecondCircle: Direct Air Capture-Startup sammelt 1,2 Millionen Euro ein
Industry is still one of the world’s largest producers of CO2 emissions. One possible solution to this is considered to be technology that can capture carbon dioxide at the point of emission. The so-called direct air capture process has recently become increasingly important. An important representative in Europe is Climeworks from Zurich, Switzerland. Using a commercial carbon removal technology, the company captures CO2 from the air. Another representative with a similar objective is LanzaJet, which converts carbon into raw materials. Relatively new to the market is Copenhagen-based SecondCircle, which is also taking a novel approach. In a pre-seed financing led by Berlin-based early-stage investor Atlantic Labs, the company received €1.2 million.
SecondCircle grew out of the Biosustain NNF Center for Biosustainability at the Danish Technical University. Founded in 2020, the Copenhagen-based company is led by founding team Alex Toftgaard Nielsen, Stephanie Redl and Torbjørn Ølshøj Jensen.
Torbjørn Ølshøj Jensen, co-founder and CEO of SecondCircle, said in a statement, “We strongly believe that we can only solve the global CO2 problem by developing new approaches to sustainably create value from unavoidable emissions.“
The Danish startup claims it is able to capture CO2 from industrial emitters at the point of emission by using “synthetic biology” to develop biocatalysts (bacteria). These then convert the carbon dioxide into chemical compounds that are sold back to industry. If this can be done on a larger scale, emissions could even be turned into a revenue stream.
But the company has much more up its sleeve. As part of a consortium that has received funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, it also has a €43 million EU grant to expand the process. The project, called “PyroCO2,” aims to demonstrate the large-scale conversion of industrial carbon emissions into value-added chemicals and materials.
“By capturing carbon at the source and converting it into highly valuable products, SecondCircle has the potential to reduce its customers’ emissions while turning the economics of carbon capture on its head by finally having a profitable use case. Supporting this team was a natural fit for us,” added Max Kufner, Director at Atlantic Labs.