UP Catalyst, an Estonian nanotechnology startup in sustainable carbon material production, has €2.36 million in a seed extension round. This follows the initial seed round of €4 million raised late last year, bringing the total seed funding to €6.36 million.
Funds utilisation
The round saw equal participation from Warsaw Equity Group, a leading private investment firm in Central and Eastern Europe, which backed , and Estonia’s state fund SmartCap, which backed Antler’s Nordic Fund II and Bisly. In addition, existing investors – Extantia, Sunly, Little Green Fund, Scottish Baltic Invest, and UniTartu Ventures participated in the round.
The investment will accelerate the construction of its first-of-a-kind industrial production unit, positioning UP Catalyst as the largest provider of CO2-grown carbon materials globally.
“Supporting UP Catalyst aligns perfectly with Warsaw Equity Group’s mission to invest in ground-breaking technologies that combat climate change. Turning industrial CO2 emissions into critical carbon-based raw materials that we are severely lacking in Europe is a game changer. We have been continually impressed by the strength and expertise of UP Catalyst’s team and look forward to this partnership,” stated Arvin Khanchandani, Investment Manager at Warsaw Equity Group.
How was the idea born?
Gary Urb Ph.D. and Kätlin Kaare Ph.D. founded UP Catalyst in 2019 in Tallinn, Estonia. The startup that specialises in making graphite from carbon dioxide. The company’s graphite is used in batteries, carbon nanotubes, and hydrogen fuel cells. Thisidea came from the researchers’ desire to give a green purpose to an unwanted waste product.
Eyes to build industrial pilot reactor
UP Catalyst plans to build an industrial pilot reactor that can process 100 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually and produce 27 tonnes of carbon materials. By 2030, the company aims to provide graphite for 4 million car batteries, which could help avoid 118.7 megatonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.
The company’s production process has a carbon footprint of just 0.07 tonnes of CO2-eq per tonne of graphite – 20 times lower than conventional graphite production and 0.7 tonnes of CO2-eq per tonne of carbon nanotubes.
In addition to this, UP Catalyst has also started to move into a new facility hosting the industrial production unit activities, located right next to the Tallinn waste incineration plant. This enables future direct access to hard-to-abate CO2 emissions. This new plant will boast a production capacity ten times larger than the current setup, marking a significant milestone towards the construction of a full-scale industrial reactor unit.
“By 2030, the EU will require 3 million tons of carbon materials for electric vehicle batteries. Despite having the potential to utilise 11 million tons of CO₂ through existing technology, the EU currently invests in underground storage and imports fossil-based materials from China,” said Dr Gary Urb, CEO of UP Catalyst. “The technology is ready—we just need the investment to scale up as a crucial step toward utilising at least 200 thousand tonnes of CO2 annually by 2030.”
