UK's carbon extraction enterprise, UNDO, has made public its successful fundraising of $12m, designed to expedite its enhanced rock weathering initiatives. Principal financing round for UK-based carbon extraction enterprise was led by Lowercarbon Capital and AENU.
Lowercarbon Capital, the investment company governed by eminent US venture capitalist Chris Sacca, and climate impact fund AENU, have spearheaded this fundraising initiative, which was publicized by the company today.
The co-founder and CEO of UNDO, Jim Mann, stated that this capital influx would empower the start-up to extract one million tonnes of CO2 permanently from the atmosphere by 2025 at a notably "competitive" cost.
He also mentioned that enhanced rock weathering is crucial in today's climate tech solutions arena since it's enduring, massively scalable, and provides an array of additional advantages. "We're proud to be backed by many of the world's most respected investors and corporate partners", he stated.
Enhanced rock weathering is a procedure that involves spreading crushed rock on farmland to expedite natural carbon sequestration processes that occur when
CO2-laden rainwater interacts with mineral-rich rocks.
Research suggests that the hastened rock weathering amplifies crop production and lessens the dependency on fertilizers in agriculture as it introduces magnesium,
calcium, potassium, and phosphorus into the soil.
Kristin Ellis, a partner at Lowercarbon Capital, stated that UNDO is poised to confront the monetary hurdles commonly encountered by carbon extraction projects. She said they are already proficient in pulverizing rock on a scale of billions of tonnes yearly. She also mentioned that UNDO repurposes this infrastructure for carbon extraction that's economical, global, enduring, and beneficial for farmland.
UNDO aims to have its approach to calculating the carbon dioxide extraction from its enhanced rock weathering projects accredited by relevant ISO standards by the conclusion of 2022. It has been engaged in an in-depth collaboration with the Finnish carbon removals registry Puro. Earth to lay down a standard for the industry.
The company has expressed its intent to publicize the results from its trials and experiments by the end of June, while the outcomes of large-scale field trials exploring the farming benefits linked with this method should be disclosed before
the close of this year.
The firm revealed the multi-million-dollar fundraising on the same day it launched a $1m contract renewal arrangement with Stripe, two years after securing a $500,000 research and development subsidy from the US payments company.
"Enhanced weathering provides an extensively scalable, cost-effective pathway to carbon extraction, and the UNDO team is making significant strides," commented Joanna Klitzke, strategy and operation at Stripe Climate. "We're particularly thrilled about UNDO's impending large-scale field trials and dedication to work towards the elite measurement of removal, which will be crucial for commercializing enhanced weathering shortly."
The agreement with Stripe comes just one month after UNDO revealed it had entered into a contract to supply carbon removals to Microsoft, which is expected to spread 25,000 tonnes of basalt rock on UK agricultural land.