Berlin-based alcemy, a developer of predictive analysis software designed to assist cement and concrete manufacturers, announced on Friday that it has secured €10M in a Series A round of funding led by Galvanize Climate Solutions.
Other investors participating in the round include AENU, BitStone Capital, MOMENI Ventures, E.R. Capital Holding, Tobias Nendel, Flixbus founders, and existing investors EF, La Famiglia, Firstminute Capital, and LocalGlobe.
The company says it will use the funds to accelerate the software development team’s growth and establish a sales team.
What does alcemy solve?
The cement and concrete industry is one of the most impactful carbon producers in the world. In fact, cement, the essential ingredient in concrete, is responsible for about 8 per cent of the world’s CO2 emissions.Â
The industry faces several challenges as the demand for concrete as a construction material continues to increase. It must decarbonise and comply with regulatory requirements, such as cement’s EU Emissions Trading System.
Here’s where the German company addresses two major pain points — reducing the high CO2 emissions and the enormous consumption of primary resources through the extraction of sand and gravel.
“We founded alcemy with the vision that more sustainable types of cement and concrete are no longer just theoretical considerations but can be used in practice — quickly and on a mass scale. But to achieve this goal, close and continuous quality monitoring of these more
sensitive types of concrete and cement are needed, which we as a company deliver with our software,” says Leopold Spenner, co-founder and CEO of alcemy.
alcemy: What you need to know
Founded in 2018 by Leopold Spenner and Dr. Robert Meyer, alcemy uses machine learning and control technology to optimise the quality of the products.
The company’s software offers precise quality predictions for mixtures and their ingredients before shipping out products, enabling companies to counterbalance limestone and cement fluctuations.
With alcemy’s solution, companies in the most emission-intensive industry benefit from higher quality, lower production costs, and massive CO2 savings. At the same time, alcemy enables companies to produce more concrete using recycled ingredients precisely and safely.
During production, the company claims to save up to 50 per cent CO2. In 2021 alone, the startup and customers reduced 80,000 tonnes of CO2.
Investor
Galvanize Climate Solutions provides the capital, expertise, and partnerships necessary to produce and scale vital and urgent climate solutions.
Veery Maxwell, Co-Head of the Galvanize Innovation and Expansion Strategy, says, “Galvanize is delighted to invest in alcemy: this is a near-term opportunity to reduce emissions from one of the hardest-to-decarbonise sectors. We’re excited to partner with alcemy’s world-class team to help global cement and concrete producers decarbonise in an efficient, scalable, and sustainable way.”
AENU is an evergreen impact fund that focuses on stage-agnostic long-term investments in climate-tech and social impact companies.
Fabian Heilemann, founder and CEO of AENU, adds, “Concrete is one of the most important building materials and at the same time one of the biggest polluters. alcemy is in a unique position to enable the production of more sustainable cement and concrete at scale already
today. With their highly complimentary team, Leopold and Robert combine practical knowledge and technical skills to understand and improve a very analog industry with data science capabilities, resulting in a product that customers can trust to improve their production process and lower emissions.”
Based out of Hamburg, Germany, Momeni Digital Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in the property technology sector based in Germany.
Juana M. Sacristán and Tim Fischer, Managing Directors of MOMENI Ventures GmbH, say, “A significant share of emissions in the carbon life cycle of real estate is accounted for by the construction phase. alcemy’s innovative technology and scalable business model mean that ready-mixed concrete works can produce high-quality but lower-carbon concrete. What clinched this investment for us were the vision of the startup’s founders and the attractiveness of the market.”
