Paris-based Dioxycle raises $17 million to turn CO2 emissions into sustainable chemicals

French start-up Dioxycle has developed a technology which can produce sustainable ethylene from recycled carbon emissions at equal or lower costs to fossil equivalents. It says it can turn CO2 into everyday items such as sustainable clothing, and sustainable packaging as well as jet fuel, coolants and antifreeze.

“Given how much our society runs on carbon, CO2 emissions could be considered an incredible resource, but only with a highly efficient CO2-conversion technology to take advantage of them. To this end, we continually asked ourselves how we can push this device to the maximum energy efficiency possible. Now, two and a half years later, we are ready to build an electrolyser with the carbon-converting capabilities of about 20,000 trees, focused on the production of sustainable ethylene,” says Dioxycle co-founder and CTO David Wakerley.

The Paris-based start-up, which launched in January 2021, has raised a Series A funding round of $17 million dollars which is says will propel it into ‘an exciting new phase of development towards a first-of-its-kind industrial-emission-busting demonstrator.’ It will expand its team by hiring candidates who have 'extensive industrial experience in electrolyser scale-up and process integration'. The round was co-led by Lowercarbon Capital and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, with participation from Gigascale Capital.

“Our vision is to become the Intel Inside of the CCUS industry (Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage), the trusted technology provider empowering chemical manufacturers to reinvent chemical processes based on emission recycling rather than fossil fuel extraction. To reach our climate goals, we must disrupt the processes of incumbents instead of rebuilding the industry from the ground up. Leveraging existing industrial assets will allow us to scale sustainable technologies at the required speed,” says Dioxycle co-founder and CEO, Sarah Lamaison.