One of the biggest hurdles that Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology must face to make an impact on climate change are the costs related to deploying the projects. Shashank Samala and his team at Heirloom have explored a breakthrough technology that solves that problem. The Company has a goal to remove 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide by 2035 and deliver cost-effective direct air capture.
The Deal
Heirloom has raised $53 million in Series A funding Co-led by Carbon Direct Management, Ahren Innovation Capital, and Breakthrough Energy Ventures which is founded by Bill Gates. There were 10 total investors in this syndicate. The deal was also backed by the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund. The funding will source the first deployments of their Direct Air Capture technology which eliminates Carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere permanently. It will also help continue R&D and scale the business.
Proving its Concept
In the year since launch, Heirloom has made a major breakthrough in accelerated carbon mineralization. This has allowed its technology to become the lowest peer-reviewed cost of direct air capture in the world. Its proven concept has attracted forward-thinking customers such as Stripe, Shopify, and Klarna.
Cutting Green Premiums
Eliminating atmospheric Carbon Dioxide has always been deemed difficult and expensive. An active competitor in the DAC industry, Climeworks, has recently emphasized the continued struggle to lower their costs at a Carbon 180 event. Shashank Samala recently discussed Heirloom’s breakthrough technology, “Utilizing low cost, earth abundant minerals as a sponge for CO2 is key to making the economics work. In the 10 months since we launched, we’ve made a breakthrough in the rate we take up CO2 from the atmosphere, giving us a clear path to ultra-low cost, highly scalable carbon removal, and achieving our mission to help reverse climate change.” Heirloom’s technology is reported to be the lowest peer-reviewed, at scale cost of anybody in the industry.
The Time to Act is Now
The Biden Administration passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) shortly after entering office. The Bipartisan Infrastructure bill allocates $3.5 billion for the Department of Energy to establish four Direct Air Capture hubs across the United States (SEC. 40308). It also includes provisions that grant prize funding of $115 million Direct Air Capture Technologies (SEC. 41005). This shows the government is incentivizing new startups in DAC technology but is testing their capacity to scale quickly. Heirloom has positioned themselves to be in the driver seat for DAC technology after this latest raise which was the largest in the industry.
Similar Deals
- Carbon Engineering – $110M raised across 8 funding rounds and 12 investors. Their latest funding round was in 2019, making it likely they’ll have an upcoming funding ask. Although a Canadian Company, they are constructing the world’s largest DAC plant in Texas.
- Climeworks – $138M raised across 7 funding rounds and 3 investors. Their latest funding round was in 2021. With 14 total DAC facilities, including a new DAC plant in Iceland – could Climeworks be considering a public offering?
- Global Thermostat – Founded in 2010, Global Thermostat has raised $70M from investors including $15M from Exxon Mobil. After having issues with its first two pilot DAC facilities (Huntsville & Tulsa), the business is primed for growth with its proven concept.
