Berlin-based Made of Air, a carbon-negative materials company that turns wood waste into thermoplastics, announced that it has raised €5M in its Seed round of funding. The round was led by the Norwegian sustainability-focused family fund TD Veen.
In addition, the Seed round also saw participation from Patrick Pichette, former CFO of Google and Chairman of the Board of Twitter, Thomas Von Koch, CEO & co-founder of EQT Group, Tuesday Capital, the co-founders of Pexip, and Olympic gold medal winning skier Aksel Lund Svindal.
Funds to expand production
The company says that the newly raised capital will help it to expand its production capabilities by bringing a new factory online, increase its workforce in R&D, product, and business development, and further continuing research and development of its carbon-negative materials.
Made of Air’s CEO & co-founder Allison Dring says, “Our core purpose is to reverse climate change. Negative emissions technologies are urgently needed to reach our global climate targets and I am thrilled to be building this important material. Made of Air has created a technology that leverages the carbon sequestration potential of biochar into a new material resource – effectively turning manufactured goods into carbon sinks. This funding round is a vital step in instituting this technology in manufacturing at scale and a momentous step in our mission.”
Working towards reversing climate change
Founded in 2016 by Allison Dring and Daniel Schwaag, Made of Air aims to provide carbon-negative materials to enact and inspire urgent, scale reversal of the climate crisis.
The company is working towards transforming waste biomass into high-value, carbon-negative materials for industrial use. The materials replace fossil materials and other composites in manufactured products.
Composed of carbon sequestered from the atmosphere, the materials permanently remove CO2 and are thermoformed by standard industrial processes to meet millions of building and consumer product applications. Storing carbon in products enables manufactured goods to become an engineered carbon sink.
Made of Air’s material is already being used in a range of applications. Recently, the company delivered a large-scale installation of facade panels for Audi’s flagship dealership using material that has permanently captured atmospheric CO2.
Besides, the company has also partnered with H&M Group to create sunglasses and is currently exploring other projects that integrate Made of Air materials within H&M Group’s supply chain. It has also partnered with a US furniture manufacturer and has several more projects with major global brands slated to launch in the near future.
Speaking on the development, Kjell Skappel, CEO of TD Veen, says, “We are convinced that the demand for carbon-negative materials will grow substantially in the foreseeable future as industries look to lower their carbon footprint and future proof their supply chains.”
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