Biozeroc raises £350k to accelerate the development of carbon-neutral concrete

We’re thrilled to announce our recent investment from deep-tech climate investor Zero Carbon Capital, lead investor in our £350k pre-seed round.

We use more concrete than any other man-made substance in the world. It’s the backbone of our infrastructure, our houses and much more. Without it, much of the modern world (nor indeed the future world) would exist. Concrete is made by mixing cement and aggregate materials such as rocks and sand. Unfortunately the process for making cement releases a huge amount of CO2, both from the chemical reaction itself and from the generation of intense heat required to make it happen. As a result, concrete is responsible for 8% of global annual CO2 emissions.

The industry is exploring many different options to reduce emissions, including improving furnace efficiency and using cleaner fuels as well as different binding materials, but few have the possibility of reducing emissions to zero. In fact, we expect the growth in usage of concrete to outpace the trajectory of current improvements and for emissions from concrete to continue to rise over the coming years.

There are a few ambitious companies looking at completely new processes to make concrete with truly zero emissions. This is exactly what Biozeroc hope to achieve, and indeed, if they are successful in sourcing feedstock chemicals from agricultural waste, the resulting concrete can enable negative emissions. 

“Biozeroc’s insight is rooted in nature, where microorganisms create extremely strong structures like coral. We use the power of cutting-edge biotechnology to optimise and scale up a similar bacterial process that binds together the aggregate, replacing the need for conventional cement altogether,” says co-founder Liv Andersson, former architect & building physics engineer and Biozeroc’s CEO.

Biozeroc was founded at Cambridge-based venture builder Carbon13.

Zero Carbon Capital are investing alongside Carbon13 and several angels in this round, with the total value of the round being £350k. ZCC’s Pippa Gawley will be taking a board seat at Biozeroc alongside the founders. 

Nicky Dee, Chief Sustainability and Innovation Officer of Carbon13 says “Carbon13 was established to build and support ambitious ventures capable of making a significant impact on greenhouse gas emissions. We immediately recognised how transformational Biozeroc’s bioconcrete could be to delivering net zero and not just incremental change. We are delighted this round of funding comes from Pippa who can support their next phase of growth.”

Pippa Gawley, Managing Director of Zero Carbon Capital Limited, says “The emissions from concrete are one of the defining problems of the climate crisis. We are proud to be supporting this awesome team exploring an exciting idea with the potential to significantly decarbonise the construction sector.”