Swiss-based Neustark secures €64.2M to turn demolished concrete into carbon sink

Neustark, a Switzerland-based carbon removal company, announced that it has raised $69M (approximately €64.26M) in a growth equity round of funding. The company claims that this is one of the largest growth equity investment rounds in carbon removal.

The investment was led by Decarbonization Partners, a collaboration between BlackRock and Temasek. Climate tech growth investor Blume Equity also participated in this round.

New investors have joined Neustark’s existing backers—Holcim, Siemens Financial Services, Verve Ventures, and ACE Ventures—all continuing their support. UBS has also provided capital through debt financing.

Additionally, Neustark has a strategic collaboration with Holcim to globally scale its carbon removal technology, promoting circular and low-carbon building solutions.

Meghan Sharp, Global Head & Chief Investment Officer of Decarbonization Partners, says, “With carbon capture, utilisation 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 decarbonisation impact – in the years to come.”

“Neustark not only helps organisations integrate carbon removal to address their hard-to-abate emissions, but their solution also contributes to decarbonising the construction industry.”

“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,” adds Sharp.

Enabling permanent carbon dioxide storage

Founded in 2019 by Valentin Gutknecht and Johannes Tiefenthaler, Neustark is a carbon dioxide removal (CDR) specialist that has developed an IP-protected solution for durable CO2 removal.

The company’s technology captures CO2 at the source and binds it in mineral waste streams through an accelerated mineralisation process.

Neustark captures biogenic CO2 from partnering biogas plants, liquifies it, and transports it to construction waste recycling sites. There, the CO2 is injected into concrete granulates from demolished buildings or other mineral waste like slag and slurry. 

The company’s technology accelerates mineralisation, permanently binding the CO2 to the granules’ pores and surfaces. 

This carbonated, recycled aggregate can be used for building roads or producing new recycled materials. The process stores CO2 for hundreds of thousands of years, with minimal risk of reversal.

Neustark, in collaboration with construction recycling partners, operates 19 carbon capture and storage plants across Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein, and Germany. An additional 40 future plants are under construction across Europe, with many more projects in the pipeline.

The company has sold nearly 120,000 tons of carbon removal to date. Its clients include Microsoft, UBS, and NextGen.

Capital utilisation

Neustark is set to leverage Decarbonization Partners’ global reach and access to investors, alongside Blume Equity’s expertise in scaling European climate tech firms. The company will expand its team and offerings to meet the growing global demand for CDR solutions.

The funds will support Neustark’s expansion across Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific, and its goal to permanently remove 1 million tons of CO2 by 2030, with plans to increase its annual carbon removal impact in the following years.

Johannes Tiefenthaler, co-CEO and founder at Neustark, says, “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.”

Tiefenthaler adds, “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.”