Calgary-based cleantech startup Carbon Upcycling Technologies has struck a deal with San Francisco’s ATEL Ventures for up to $10 million USD in financing.
This funding is secured by Carbon Upcycling’s assets. Under the agreement, ATEL will also receive the option to make a future investment in the company.
Concrete is responsible for eight percent of global CO₂ emissions.
Carbon Upcycling aims to convert carbon dioxide (CO₂) and industrial byproducts into more cost-effective, eco-friendly cement alternatives. The company plans to put this capital towards its first, flagship commercial carbon capture and utilization (CCU) project at the Ash Grove Mississauga Cement Plant, west of Toronto.
Leveraging its patented CCU tech, the startup intends to sequester CO₂ emissions from the plant’s cement kiln. Carbon Upcycling says it will then use that CO₂ to turn locally-produced industrial waste into materials that are capable of partially replacing the cement in concrete.
“Their platform converts industrial byproducts and captured CO₂ into valuable cement materials, improving economics for producers while onshoring critical construction supply chains,” ATEL Ventures vice-president and director Sam Cash said in a release.
In that release, Carbon Upcycling CFO Suzy Taherian said this financing demonstrates that the company’s tech “is entering a new phase of commercial readiness.”
Cement is the glue that typically holds concrete together. Today, concrete is the foundation of most buildings and roads. But it is also responsible for eight percent of global CO₂ emissions.
Some Canadian cleantech firms, like Carbon Upcycling, Montréal’s CarbiCrete, and Halifax-based CarbonCure, are working to displace the amount of cement required to make concrete. Others, including Vancouver and Calgary-based Cura, are trying to reduce the CO₂ produced when making cement and concrete in the first place.
This financing comes two months after Carbon Upcycling promoted Markus Kritzler from CRO to CEO and moved co-founder Apoorv Sinha to president, and builds on an $18-million USD convertible note investment the firm announced in June 2025 to advance its project pipeline.
Carbon Upcycling expects its Mississauga project to begin operations during the second half of 2026. Once operational, Carbon Upcycling expects that facility to have the capacity to produce up to 30,000 tonnes worth of low-carbon cement alternatives annually.
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Feature image courtesy Carbon Upcycling.