Halifax’s pHathom Technologies has secured $4 million in seed funding to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from ocean-based bioenergy facilities.
pHathom plans to use this capital to pilot its coastal carbon-capture technology in projects across Atlantic Canada. Those projects will ideally help the company refine and validate its approach to prepare it for wider deployment.
“This investment allows us to demonstrate a bioenergy carbon capture pathway that works within existing infrastructure.”
Founded in 2024, pHathom specializes in marine-based carbon dioxide (CO₂) removal. The company’s technology “bolts directly onto” existing coastal bioenergy plants, which look similar to traditional power plants but help reduce dependence on fossil fuels by turning organic marine materials like seaweed and algae into renewable electricity and heat. They produce CO₂ when burning this biomass.
pHathom’s strategy involves capturing that CO₂ before it reaches the atmosphere and using a slurry of limestone and seawater in its weathering reactor to convert it into bicarbonate, a compound that is already found in oceans, through a process that the startup claims “mimics the earth’s natural carbon cycle.” The company says that bicarbonate can be stored in the ocean, locking the associated carbon away without altering the acidity of seawater.
“Reducing emissions from large facilities isn’t enough unless the solution is durable, verifiable, and responsible,” pHathom founder and CEO Kimberly Gilbert said in a statement. “This investment allows us to demonstrate a bioenergy carbon capture pathway that works within existing infrastructure, meets high scientific and measurement standards, and can be governed using established regulatory frameworks.”
pHathom’s equity seed round was led by Boston’s Propeller Ventures, with support from provincial government-backed New Brunswick Innovation Foundation and Invest Nova Scotia, as well as Belgian-based strategic investor Carmeuse Ventures.
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With this funding, pHathom claims it now has more than $12 million in committed capital. That figure includes funds the company expects to receive from the federal government thanks to its lead role in the Ocean Supercluster-backed Carbon Capture and Marine Storage Project.
The cleantech startup, which is already working with sustainable biomass producers, carbon capture research institutions, and measurement, reporting, and verification experts to validate and scale its technology, hopes to deploy full-scale commercial projects by 2030.
Like fellow Nova Scotia startup Planetary Technologies, pHathom is also working with Shopify-backed carbon removal credit buyer Frontier. Last year, pHathom was selected for Frontier’s advance purchase program. Cleantech accelerator Foresight Canada also named pHathom as startup of the year in its first Atlantic Canadian cleantech awards.
Feature image courtesy pHathom Technologies.