Montréal-based cleantech startup CarbiCrete has appointed Jacob Homiller as CEO, replacing the company’s co-founder, Chris Stern.
Homiller joins CarbiCrete from Michigan-based materials manufacturer H.C. Starck Solutions, where he led the company to be acquired by fellow materials manufacturer Elmet Technologies in November 2023. Stern will remain at CarbiCrete as a strategic advisor.
Outgoing CEO Chris Stern says that Jacob Homiller “will take CarbiCrete to the next level.”
“I am very pleased that we have managed to bring Jake aboard and I am confident that he is the right person to lead CarbiCrete into this next exciting chapter in the company’s evolution,” CarbiCrete board director Kevin Rahill said in a statement. “He has a proven track record of commercial success and I look forward to working with him as we work toward wide-scale adoption of CarbiCrete’s decarbonized concrete technology.”
Founded in 2016 by Stern and CTO Mehrdad Mahoutian, CarbiCrete is a carbon removal technology company developing solutions for buildings to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Its offering was developed at McGill University and enables the production of cement-free, carbon-negative concrete.
In a LinkedIn post this week, Stern said that CarbiCrete, which is now working on commercializing its product in North America and Europe, grew from seven to 55 employees during his tenure. He added that he believes Homiller “will take CarbiCrete to the next level.”
Having led the company since its founding year, Stern’s tenure as CEO saw CarbiCrete raise its first rounds of funding. The startup received $2.1 million from Sustainable Development Technology Canada, the recently embattled federal cleantech investment agency, in 2018. In 2022, the startup closed $23.5 million CAD in Series A financing.
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CarbiCrete has also been recognized by the Global Cleantech 100 list, placing in the annual lists in both 2020 and 2022. The list ranks the most innovative companies in cleantech globally and is curated by San Francisco-based Cleantech Group, an organization supporting cleantech development and marketability.
CarbiCrete was also one of two Canadian companies that joined the first cohort of Google’s climate change accelerator in 2021, where participants received mentorship on product development, machine learning, and connected with experts within the climate and sustainability ecosystem.
Earlier this month, Carbicrete was among 15 tech-enabled manufacturing projects selected to receive funding from Next Generation Manufacturing Canada.
Stern’s departure follows an unprecedented wave of executive turnover across Canadian tech in 2024, with Unbounce, WeCook, Aifred Health, Numana, and Foxquilt experiencing changes at the top, alongside many other companies.
Feature image courtesy CarbiCrete.