Origen Power Limited (“Origen”), a growing limestone-based carbon removal provider, announced today that it has secured $13 million in Series A funding, led by Barclays Climate Ventures (“Barclays”). Shell Ventures, Exascale Fund (“Exa”), Elemental Impact, and Hatch also participated in the round.
The company will use the capital to scale its limestone-based direct air capture (DAC) technology to remove carbon from the atmosphere, continuing to grow and scale its commercial projects worldwide. The company also plans to invest in further research at its technology and research centre in Bristol.
Origen’s differentiated approach to direct air capture (DAC) uses the natural chemistry of highly abundant limestone to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Origen separates the carbon from the limestone rock, safely storing it underground, to create the mineral lime. Lime is then effective at pulling carbon from the atmosphere through a naturally occurring and passive process.
“Efficiently enabled by the technology we have developed at Origen, limestone can act as a natural sponge for carbon dioxide in our atmosphere,” said Ben Riddle-Turner, CEO of Origen. “The challenge is that we need investment to deliver at scale. This funding gives us the runway we need to streamline our process and reduce costs to deliver the carbon reductions that our planet needs.”
In the face of rising global temperatures, there is an urgent need to slow the pace of carbon emissions as well as reduce the amount of carbon already in the atmosphere through DAC solutions. Moreover, DAC represents an important step toward reducing emissions from hard-to-decarbonize sectors like manufacturing, shipping, and construction industries.
“Origen has the process, technology, and team needed to deploy efficient direct air capture at scale.” said Steven Poulter, Head of Barclays Climate Ventures. “So that Origen can deliver impact, the focus is rightly now on proving the technology via Origen’s project with EERC and preparing for the development of commercial projects, which Barclays is proud to support through today’s investment.”
The company recently announced a partnership with the Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC) to capture 1,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of carbon dioxide per year using this process at a facility under construction in North Dakota. Origen’s approach includes proprietary technology across the entire value stack, including the kiln, lime preparation, and air contactor. The company’s DAC technology is also fuel flexible, avoiding short-term energy challenges faced by other DAC providers and enabling scalable carbon removal today while adapting to the evolving energy mix over time.
Origen also previously announced a partnership with Shell and Mitsubishi to begin the development process on the Pelican Gulf Coast Carbon Removal Direct Air Capture project. The project is expected to remove up to 50,000 tonnes of carbon per year – more than 10 times the largest operating DAC facility in the U.S. today. The potential offtake includes up to $3 million in advanced carbon removal credits.
“Shell Ventures is excited to support Origen and its direct air capture technology,” said Quennie Co, Managing Partner of Shell Ventures. “Advancing carbon removal technologies is a critical part of the energy transition, and Origen's technology relies on raw materials that have established supply chains and has the potential to generate low-cost carbon removal credits at scale, which can catalyze the industry.”
“Tim Kruger’s groundbreaking TED talk on ideas of using limestone’s natural chemical properties to remove CO2 from the atmosphere left a lasting impression on me,” said Chris Anderson, Head of TED and General Partner, Exa. “Today, I’m thrilled to see Origen bringing these exceptional ideas to commercial scale. Exa is proud to join this funding round alongside strong new partners in this space.”
“We were excited to back Origen because they’re already making real progress on the ground in Louisiana and North Dakota,” said Danya Hakeem, VP of Portfolio at Elemental Impact. “For Elemental, these projects aren’t just about carbon capture – they’re creating jobs and economic opportunities in the communities where they operate.”