The Carbon to Value Initiative Announces Year 5 Startup Cohort for Its Carbontech Accelerator

Greentown Labs, Urban Future Lab at NYU Tandon School of Engineering, and Fraunhofer USA have announced the 10 startups selected for the fifth year of the Carbon to Value Initiative (C2V Initiative), a leading carbontech accelerator.

The C2V Initiative received 165 applications from 33 countries, representing a wide variety of carbontech innovations, including point-source and direct air capture; carbon conversion into fuels, chemicals, and materials; and carbon sequestration and removal through enhanced mineralization, ocean alkalinization, and biomass carbon storage.

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Selected participants in this year’s accelerator include:

• Arbon – Brooklyn, NY, develops a humidity-swing carbon-capture solution that captures CO₂ from air or point-source without heat or pressure.

• Cella Mineral Storage – New York, NY, develops subsurface-mineralization technology with integrated software for CO₂ sequestration.

• ICODOS – Mannheim, Germany, transforms emissions into methanol through an integrated carbon capture and synthesis process.

• Lite-1 – Vancouver, Canada, uses biomanufacturing to produce circular colourants for food, cosmetics, and textiles.

• Mission Zero Technologies – London, UK, develops an electrified direct-air carbon capture system using liquid-adsorption and electrochemical technologies.

• Octavia Carbon – Nairobi, Kenya, builds direct-air carbon capture systems powered by geothermal heat.

• Rushnu – Pleasanton, CA, integrates point-source carbon capture with chemical production, converting salt and CO₂ into chlorine-based products.

• Sora Fuel – Cambridge, MA, integrates direct-air capture with conversion of captured carbon into syngas for sustainable aviation fuel.

• Turnover Labs – Brooklyn, NY, develops modular electrolyzers that transform raw CO₂ emissions into chemical building blocks.

• Universal Matter – Burlington, Canada, converts carbon waste such as plastics and tires into graphene through Flash Joule Heating.

Over the six-month program, startups will work with the Carbontech Leadership Council, composed of corporate and nonprofit leaders including Carbon180, Caterpillar Inc., CO₂ Value Europe, Energy Impact Partners, Evonik, Fluor, Johnson Matthey, L’Oréal, Shell, TotalEnergies, Veolia, W. L. Gore & Associates, and XPRIZE.

“The sophistication of this year’s cohort reflects how far the carbontech sector has advanced,” said Russ Zarras, Director of Strategic Initiatives at Fraunhofer USA. “These companies are tackling complex technical challenges with real industrial applications.”

The C2V Initiative’s Year 5 kickoff event will take place on December 4 at Greentown Boston.