Neustark secures $69 million in funding to expand carbon removal solution globally

Neustark's core competence, permanent removal of CO₂ in demolition concrete, at one of its storage sites in Switzerland. — Neustark’s core competence, permanent removal of CO₂ in demolition concrete, at one of its storage sites in Switzerland. © neustark

Growth equity funding round led by Decarbonization Partners, with participation from Blume Equity, to propel neustark’s expansion across Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific, and support its mission to remove 1 million tons of CO₂ in 2030.
Existing backers Siemens Financial Services, Verve Ventures, ACE Ventures, and Holcim continue their support, and UBS adds debt financing.
The Swiss climate tech company secures one of the largest growth equity investment rounds in carbon removal (source: cdr.fyi).

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 mineralization process.

Biogenic CO₂ is captured from partnering biogas plants, then liquified 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 mineralization 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 mineralization process stores the captured CO₂ for hundreds of thousands of years, and the risk of reversal is proven to be slim to none.

Founders and co-CEOs of neustark: Valentin Gutknecht (left), Johannes Tiefenthaler (right). © neustark

“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. He added: “The CDR market is experiencing substantial growth, driven by high-quality and durable carbon removal solutions, and a surging demand for trusted carbon credits. Despite this, we need to exponentially accelerate the removal of CO₂ if we want to reach net zero goals by 2050. This target will only be possible by globally deploying highly scalable, measurable and commercially viable carbon removal solutions at the scale of millions of tons per year.”

Together with construction recycling partners, neustark currently has 19 carbon capture and storage plants in operation across Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein, and Germany. Forty future plants are currently under construction across Europe, with a robust pipeline of projects beyond that.

Neustark has sold nearly 120,000 tons of carbon removal to date, making it one of Europe’s fastest-growing carbon removal companies, with clients including Microsoft, UBS and NextGen. All projects are certified under the Gold Standard to ensure credible third-party assessment and transparency related to performance.

Decarbonization Partner’s Global Head & Chief Investment Officer Meghan Sharp (left) and neustark’s co-CEO and founder Johannes Tiefenthaler (right). © neustark

Neustark will be able to capitalize on Decarbonization Partners’ global platform and reach, including its access to corporates and investors across North America and Asia Pacific and its dedicated decarbonization specialists as well as Blume Equity’s deep climate network and expertise in scaling European disruptive climate tech companies. With their partnership, alongside neustark’s existing investors – all of whom possess extensive technology investment portfolios –, neustark will expand its team and enhance its offerings to meet the increasing global demand for CDR.

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.” She added: “With their unique business model that seamlessly integrates two existing and mature industries without disrupting their day-to-day operations, neustark has established themselves as one of the global leaders in high-quality durable CDR with a solution that is removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere today.”

About Neustark

Neustark is a leading provider in this rapidly growing field, having developed a solution to permanently store CO₂ from the air in recycled mineral waste such as demolished concrete.

Our first solutions have been deployed in Switzerland and Europe and are already capturing and storing tons of CO₂ every day. We are currently scaling up our operations and carbon removal impact globally – on the road to our ambition of removing one million tons of CO₂ in 2030, and beyond that.