ANALYSIS: Voluntary carbon market firms raise more than $1.3 billion in 2024
Quantum Commodity Intelligence - Over $1.3 billion was raised by companies in the voluntary carbon market in 2024, with carbon dioxide removals (CDR) firms securing the most money, approximately $800 million, according to data compiled by Quantum based on announced deals.
The overall figure rises to more than $1.8 billion if money secured by funds to invest in projects is included in the fundraising.
Companies in the CDR space raised at least $797 million last year, with $272 million of that coming in the last four months of 2024. In total, over $333 million was raised in the four months to December 31, of which $271 million was in the CDR sector - $150 million alone for direct air capture (DAC) outfit Heirloom. Project developers raised more than $163 million in 2024, followed by marketplaces and carbon trading platforms with over $131 million.
The total figures will be higher than reported as several deals announced over the course of year were for undisclosed amounts. The significant fund raises in the last four months of 2024 are outlined below.
Project developers ($18.58m)
Woodbois
London-listed Woodbois raised £1 million ($1.25 million) through a share subscription, with the proceeds supporting a number of the company's product areas including its carbon credit trading business. Woodbois said the money was raised by a subscription of 357,142,857 new ordinary shares of 0.01 pence each in the company at a price of 0.28 pence per new ordinary share.
"The additional capital will enable us to enhance our export capabilities and invest in innovative initiatives like our carbon credits trading business. We are grateful for the confidence shown by our shareholders and remain committed to delivering sustainable growth and value," said Guido Theuns, chief executive of Woodbois.
Brightly
Brightly, a US-based start-up focussed on avoiding methane emissions from food, has raised $2.3 million in seed funding to scale up the collection of edible food surpluses that would otherwise go to waste.
The oversubscribed investment in Boston-headquartered Brightly was led by global food company Schreiber Foods with additional funding from G-Force, Collaborative Fund, Clear Current Capital, and Windsail Capital.
Brightly works with food rescue organisations across the US to collect edible food surpluses and redistribute them to feed people in need, which avoids food ending up in the waste stream and emitting methane.
Burn
Kenya-based cleaner cookstoves manufacturer and project developer Burn has secured $15 million in investment from the European Investment Bank (EIB), with the funding being used to speed up manufacturing and distribution of electric stoves that can be monitored in real time.
Burn's ECOA induction cooker generates carbon credits by using integrated cellular-enabled internet of things technology that allows for real-time monitoring of energy usage, a key requirement of the highest-rated methodology for the cookstoves sector.
"This investment by EIB will help us transition over a million low-income households to cooking with electricity, allowing them to cook on grids that are 80-95% powered by renewable energy," Burn's chief executive Peter Scott said.
ForestFolks
Japanese project developer ForestFolks has received pre-seed funding from compatriot management solutions provider Sparkle totalling JPY 5 million ($31,696). "Through capital participation with Sparkle, which is responsible for regional development, we will further strengthen our contribution to the local community, strengthen our management structure and strategy, and develop and accelerate our business from a global perspective," said Takashi Sakurai, CEO of ForestFolks.
CDR ($271.84m)
Heirloom
San Francisco-based DAC developer Heirloom has raised $150 million in its latest funding round, with new investors in the company including Japan Airlines, H&M, Mitsui & Co, Mitsubishi Corporation, and Siemens Financial Services.
The Series B funding round co-led by US-based venture capital firms Future Positive and Lowercarbon Capital, the latter having taken part in Heirloom's Series A funding round back in 2022.
Heirloom plans to deploy the capital to lower the cost of its technology and develop additional projects, it said. Other previous investors that took part in the latest funding are Ahren Innovation Capital, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Carbon Direct Capital and MCJ Collective, Heirloom said.
Deep Sky
Deep Sky secured investment from two Canadian financial institutions totalling CAD$2.50 million ($1.84 million) to support future commercial site planning and explore new projects.
The money, which came from National Bank of Canada and BMO, will also support ongoing research on in situ mineralisation in Thetford Mines and geological surveys for sedimentary storage at Bécancour in the Canadian province of Québec.
Carbyon
Netherlands-based direct air capture company Carbyon has raised €15.3 million ($15.9 million) to expand its operations and scale its demonstration plants to commercial production. "The recent financial investment will allow the company to develop the first engineering-scale outdoor demonstrators and to prepare to go to market," said Carbyon.
Brineworks
Netherlands-based start-up Brineworks raised $2.2 million for its electrolyser aimed at using seawater to produce CO2 and hydrogen, which could then be processed into e-fuels targeting the maritime and aviation industries. Brineworks will use the funding led by low-carbon tech investor Pale Blue Dot to develop its seawater electrolyser and system for direct capture of CO2 from seawater at a low cost for e-fuel production, it said.
Terraform
US-based Terraform Industries has raised $15 million to expand its technology to produce carbon-neutral synthetic natural gas from a process combining solar power, green hydrogen and direct air capture of CO2.
No other details were available, but the company has used the money to hire more staff over the last few weeks, including mechanical, chemical and electrical engineers.
Ucaneo
Germany-based DAC technology start-up Ucaneo has raised €6.75 million in seed funding that will be used to accelerate DAC testing and development facilities in the European country and develop the firm's first industrial-scale product.
Ucaneo said the money came from new investors, including unnamed "hardware and industrial energy" companies, Energie 360°'s Smart Energy Innovation Fund and IBB Ventures.
Existing investors also contributed; they are Grantham Environmental Trust, Carbon Removal Partners, Nucleus Capital, Apprecia Capital, and notable angels including Flixfounders and Pjotr van Schothorst, the company said.
Phlair
Germany-based DAC firm Phlair has raised €14.5 million in seed funding and received a €2.5 million grant to help it deploy three of its electrochemical DAC plants over the next two years.
The Munich-headquartered company said on its LinkedIn page that climate-first venture capital firm Extantia Capital led the funding round with participation from investment fund Planet A Ventures and Switzerland-based Verve Ventures.
Octavia Carbon
Kenya-based DAC start-up Octavia Carbon said it will expand its 'Project Hummingbird' operations after closing $3.9 million in seed round funding in addition to the $1.1 million already banked through forward sales of CDR credits.
Octavia has raised the capital from Cape Town-based fund E4E Africa, with participation from other venture capital firms the Catalyst Fund, Launch Africa, Fondation Botnar and Renew Capital, with the financing for an expansion of CDR beyond lab-scale activities.
Planetary Technologies
Canadian ocean-based CDR specialist Planetary Technologies has raised $11.35 million from a Series A funding round to expand pilot projects and scale operations.
Funding was led by Evok Innovations, the round includes new investors BDC Capital, Amplify Capital, DNX Ventures, and Iconiq Capita, Planetary said. The company uses ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) to remove CO2 from the atmosphere.
NetZero
Moroccan fund Innovx has invested €7 million into French CDR start-up NetZero to enable it to scale operations across Africa. The transaction is the third announced by NetZero this year following a €18 million raise in March and a $2.5 million loan in June.
In total, NetZero has raised €37 million in equity financing since 2023, making it one of the largest players in the biochar industry.
Crew Carbon
Crew Carbon, a US-based specialist in removing CO2 at wastewater treatment plants has raised $5.3 million to scale its commercial operations with existing wastewater treatment partners, while expanding its technology to additional plants.
The company said the oversubscribed seed funding round was led by Counteract Partners. Connecticut-based Crew uses engineered enhanced weathering to remove biogenic CO2 from municipal and industrial wastewater systems.
SeaO2
Netherlands-based direct ocean capture (DOC) technology company SeaO2 has raised €2.0 million in seed funding, which will help the firm transition from a prototype to a pilot plant among other things.
SeaO2 said funding came from investors Doen Participaties, Future Tech Ventures, CarbonFix, a fund operated by the North Netherlands regional development agency NV Nom, and 'angel investors' Eduard Talman and Siddharth Kambe, among others.
"This funding will help us transition from prototype to pilot plant, grow our team, and implement and test a robust monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) system," the company said.
Vycarb
US CDR start-up Vycarb, which focusses on OAE, has recently secured an investment from Australian mining giant Rio Tinto, according to one of its investors.
Venture capital firm Twynam, which invested in the CDR company earlier in the year as part of a "pre-seed raise", said it had recently been joined by Rio Tinto.
However, the size of the investments by either company were not disclosed. Vycarb uses a reactor to add limestone alkalinity to coastal ocean water, resulting in the capture and storage of atmospheric CO2.
Vaulted Deep
Houston-based CDR firm Vaulted Deep raised $32.3 million in Series A funding, after achieving the industry's fastest and largest rate of credit delivery during its first year of operations.
The investment round was led by venture capital firm Prelude Ventures, while other investment funds such as Lowercarbon Capital, Earthshot Ventures, and WovenEarth Ventures also joined, the company said.
"This funding comes on the heels of Vaulted's first full year of successful operations and will allow the company to expand carbon dioxide removal capacity," said Matt Eggers, Managing Partner at Prelude Ventures.
Marketplace/Platform
CarbonX Climate
French carbon removal marketplace CarbonX Climate has closed an oversubscribed investment round aimed at supporting the expansion of its CDR activities. The investment round saw the participation of Redstone, VR Ventures, Engie New Ventures and PROfounders, which bring institutional experience in scaling critical climate infrastructure, the company said.
"The additional capital will support and accelerate the company's expansion into new geographies and continued investment into building science-based tools to professionalise and accelerate the carbon removal industry," said co-founder Sébastien Dewarrat in a statement. The company did not disclose the amount of investment raised.
Japan GX
Japan GX, the company behind the Japan Carbon Credit Exchange has raised more funding in a seed round to boost product development, recruitment and organisational structure. Japan GX said the latest money came from media and digital marketing company All About Group and investment company Flag 41, although the Japan GX Group did not disclose the size of the funding.
"Through this, the company aims to become a leading company responsible for the expansion of the market by providing consulting services for corporate green transformation (GX) to the creation of carbon credits," Japan GX said.
Sustainiam
Bangalore-based environmental solutions provider Sustainiam has raised $1.39 million in Series A funding from a slew of investors including Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty Kundra. The funds will be used to launch a platform for trading environmental assets and expand operations globally.
MRV ($29m)
Open Forest Protocol
Switzerland-based Open Forest Protocol (OFP), which is behind a digital MRV platform for forest carbon projects, closed seed financing supported by venture capital firms and foundations. OFP did not disclose the money raised but said the round was led by Ubermorgen Ventures, with support from Backbone Ventures and GS Futures, as well as Bloom Foundation, NEAR Foundation, and Fondation Valery.
It said the completion of the seed round paves the way for "long-term development with sustainability-driven companies, collaboration with national governments worldwide, and the initiation of dozens more projects to the protocol".
OroraTech
German wildfire monitoring company OroraTech raised a fresh €25 million in funds to develop its technology in the Americas and the Asia Pacific regions. The company has deployed technology to monitor the world's forests remotely and is already used at some carbon projects.
The investment corresponds to a Series B, usually the second significant round of financing for a startup, and came mainly from Korys, the European Circular Bioeconomy Fund and a previous investor, Bayern Kapital. OroraTech said other current investors also recommitted some money, including Edaphon, Ananda Impact Ventures, ConActivity and Findus Venture.
The Munich-based company, which uses satellites to obtain its data, said the investments will be used to advance its "proprietary orbital thermal sensor network and predictive AI technologies".
Everest
San Francisco-based climate tech firm Everest raised $3 million for its recently launched sensor for enhanced rock weathering projects, aiming to boost CDR measurement. Zurich-based venture capital Carbon Removal Partners led the funding, followed by New York-based Ponderosa Ventures, German climate start-up Carbon Drawdown Initiative and individual investors.
Carbon accounting/management ($7m)
Zevero
UK-based carbon accounting services company Zevero secured $7 million in its inaugural seed funding round to help accelerate expansion in key markets such as Japan, US, Australia, and Asia-Pacific countries. Funding was led by Tokyo-based Spiral Capital with participation from East Ventures and several angel investors.
Insurance ($690,000)
Artio
UK-based start-up Artio has raised £550,000 to help it develop insurance products for early-stage CDR projects. Artio said that the investment, which was led by Lifetime Ventures and SFC Capital, will be used to develop insurance solutions through its proprietary risk modelling platform and to boost its team. The company plans to launch its first insurance product for CDR projects in early 2025.
Standards/registries ($5.2m)
Ecosystem Restoration Standard
Paris-based carbon registry Ecosystem Restoration Standard (ERS) raised a further €5 million in funding and now has ambitions to be the "leading carbon standard" for nature-based projects. ERS said the extra funding will help it deal with the increased workload associated with the steady interest it has seen in the past year.
Funds ($37m)
Africa Go Green Fund
The UK's development finance institution British International Investment has committed $16 million to a climate fund dedicated to Africa that in the past has helped finance cleaner cooking initiatives across the continent, according to Cygnum Capital Asset Management, which manages the Africa Go Green Fund.
Amazon Fund
Denmark's government will contribute DKK150 million ($21.1 million) to the Amazon Fund, according to the fund manager of Brazil's development bank. The donation will likely make Denmark the fifth largest donor to the Amazon Fund after Norway, Germany, the US and the UK.
Manulife Forest Climate Fund
Japanese firms Toho Gas, Norinchukin Bank and Sumitomo Life Insurance Company are the latest investors in the Manulife Forest Climate Fund, which prioritises carbon sequestration and the generation of carbon credits over timber production.
