A British company that makes direct air capture (DAC) technology has announced it has raised £21.8m in funding from a range of investors, including firms fronted by Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest and American billionaire Bill Gates.
Mission Zero Technologies said the Series A funding would enable it to accelerate the development of a “mass deployable DAC product” that had potential to scale up from removing 1,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere in the near-term to “megatonne annual capacity” by the end of the decade.
The funding round was led by venture capital firm 2150, with participation from Fortescue, the Australian iron ore and asset manager fronted by Forrest, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the clean tech fund founded by Bill Gates, Siemens Financial Services, and the World Fund.
The funds join an investor base that includes Deep Science Ventures, mining company Anglo American, tech giants Stripe and Klarna, Deep Sky, and the XPRIZE Foundation.
“We are delighted to welcome VCs and strategic investors with some of the strongest environmental credentials of any investors on the planet,” said Dr Nicholas Chadwick, CEO of Mission Zero Technologies. “Their world-leading manufacturing acumen and deep alignment with our vision will be catalytic in allowing us to scale DAC rapidly and responsibly for maximum positive climate impact.”
Founded in 2020, Mission Zero said its technology uses electricity and a liquid solution to capture atmospheric CO2 and then relies on a “hyper-efficient electrochemical separation” to “continuously regenerate the capture solution” and concentrate the CO2 as pure gas.
It claims its solution is highly energy efficient and compatible with renewable power sources, allowing it to be flexibly ramped up and down to provide on-demand atmospheric CO2 directly at the point of use.
The funding round is announced just a few months after the company turned on the UK’s first direct air capture plant at the University of Sheffield’s Translational Energy Research Centre.
The company said it was planning to have three commercial systems on the ground by the end of 2024, making it one of the most advanced stage DAC companies in the world.
Christian Jolck, co-founder and partner at 2150, hailed the rapid progress made by Mission Zero over the last few years. “Mission Zero’s novel technology unlocks mass deployable, low cost, energy efficient DAC, enabling effective carbon removal while also providing a circular CO₂ source that cities can use to make fuel, chemicals, building materials, and more,” he said. “Mission Zero has gone from concept to commercial deployments in just three years and built a team with the technical talent and drive to rapidly deploy the most competitive DAC in the market.”
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