Origen Secures $13 Million Series a to Deploy Limestone-based Direct Air Capture Technology

BRISTOL, England, Jan. 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Origen Power Limited ("Origen"), a growing limestone-based carbon removal provider, announced today that it has secured $13 million in Series A funding, led by Barclays Climate Ventures. Shell Ventures, Exascale Fund ("Exa"), Elemental Impact, and Hatch also participated in the round.

The company will use the capital to scale its limestone-based direct air capture (DAC) technology to remove carbon from the atmosphere, continuing to grow and scale its commercial projects worldwide. The company also plans to invest in further research at its technology and research centre in Bristol.

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Origen's differentiated approach to direct air capture (DAC) uses the natural chemistry of highly abundant limestone to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Origen separates the carbon from the limestone rock, safely storing it underground, to create the mineral lime. Lime is then effective at pulling carbon from the atmosphere through a naturally occurring and passive process.

"Efficiently enabled by the technology we have developed at Origen, limestone can act as a natural sponge for carbon dioxide in our atmosphere," said Ben Riddle-Turner, CEO of Origen. "The challenge is that we need investment to deliver at scale. This funding gives us the runway we need to streamline our process and reduce costs to deliver the carbon reductions that our planet needs."

In the face of rising global temperatures, there is an urgent need to slow the pace of carbon emissions as well as reduce the amount of carbon already in the atmosphere through DAC solutions. Moreover, DAC represents an important step toward reducing emissions from hard-to-decarbonize sectors like manufacturing, shipping, and construction industries.

"Origen has the process, technology, and team needed to deploy efficient direct air capture at scale," said Steven Poulter, Head of Barclays Climate Ventures. "So that Origen can deliver impact, the focus is rightly now on proving the technology via Origen's project with EERC and preparing for the development of commercial projects, which Barclays is proud to support through today's investment."

The company recently announced a partnership with the Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC) to capture 1,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of carbon dioxide per year using this process at a facility under construction in North Dakota. Origen's approach includes proprietary technology across the entire value stack, including the kiln, lime preparation, and air contactor. The company's DAC technology is also fuel flexible, avoiding short-term energy challenges faced by other DAC providers and enabling scalable carbon removal today while adapting to the evolving energy mix over time.

Origen also previously announced a partnership with Shell and Mitsubishi to begin the development process on the Pelican Gulf Coast Carbon Removal Direct Air Capture project. The project is expected to remove up to 50,000 tonnes of carbon per year – more than 10 times the largest operating DAC facility in the U.S. today. The potential offtake includes up to $3 million in advanced carbon removal credits.

"Shell Ventures is excited to support Origen and its direct air capture technology," said Quennie Co, Managing Partner of Shell Ventures. "Advancing carbon removal technologies is a critical part of the energy transition, and Origen's technology relies on raw materials that have established supply chains and has the potential to generate low-cost carbon removal credits at scale, which can catalyze the industry."

"Tim Kruger's groundbreaking TED talk on ideas of using limestone's natural chemical properties to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere left a lasting impression on me," said Chris Anderson, Head of TED and General Partner, Exa. "Today, I'm thrilled to see Origen bringing these exceptional ideas to commercial scale. Exa is proud to join this funding round alongside strong new partners in this space."

"We were excited to back Origen because they're already making real progress on the ground in Louisiana and North Dakota," said Danya Hakeem, VP of Portfolio at Elemental Impact. "For Elemental, these projects aren't just about carbon capture – they're creating jobs and economic opportunities in the communities where they operate."

About Origen

Origen is a UK and US-based climate technology company founded by preeminent thinkers in carbon removal and industrial technology, who believe in the power of limestone to permanently sequester CO₂ and materially reduce the impacts of climate change. Origen's direct air capture (DAC) technology uses the natural chemistry of abundantly available limestone rock to durably remove CO₂ from the air with its green lime kiln and low-intensity air contactor. The company aims to scale to millions then billions of tonnes of carbon removal to achieve its mission, "The Atmosphere, Restored."

About Barclays Climate Ventures

Barclays Climate Ventures has a mandate to invest £500m of Barclays' capital into the equity of climate-tech start-ups between 2020 and 2027. Through this portfolio, Barclays aims to fill growth stage funding gaps to help accelerate and scale catalytic solutions to environmental challenges, with an enhanced focus on decarbonisation technologies that are enabling transition within carbon-intensive sectors. Since launch in 2020, more than £166m has been invested, supporting many aspects of climate-tech innovation, from property retrofit solutions to long-duration energy storage and hydrogen technologies.

About Shell Ventures

Shell Ventures works with startups and companies from their early stages to their scale and growth phases. We make minority investments that help to develop new technologies and disruptive business models that work to accelerate the energy and mobility transformation.

About Exascale Fund

Exascale Fund ("Exa") is an early-stage investor backing entrepreneurs who are tackling climate change through disruptive and scalable technologies. We get involved as an active partner from the earliest moments of concept on paper, to proven tests and commercial roll-out (pre-seed to Series A). We are fast-moving and agile, with flexibility in terms of geography and ticket sizes, and with our evergreen structure we are a partner with patient capital.

About Elemental Impact

Elemental Impact is a non-profit investor with 15 years of experience scaling innovative technology projects with deep climate and community impact. Elemental invests catalytic capital and provides expert services to a growing portfolio of 160+ companies in energy, agriculture, transportation, industry, and nature-based solutions.

About Hatch

Hatch is a global engineering, project delivery, and professional services firm. Whatever our clients envision, our teams can design and build. With over six decades of business and technical experience in the mining, energy, and infrastructure sectors, we know your business and understand that your challenges are changing rapidly. We respond quickly with solutions that are smarter, more efficient, and innovative. We draw upon our 10,000 staff with experience in over 150 countries to challenge the status quo and create positive change for our clients, our employees, and the communities we serve.

SOURCE: Origen