Jun 6, 2023 - Energy & Environment

Carbon removal player lands $100M Series B round

Illustration of a cardboard box full of carbon molecule with more falling from above.

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

Charm Industrial, a carbon removal startup that counts corporate giants among its customers, has closed a $100 million Series B round.

Why it matters: It's a big expansion of Charm's resources. Prior fundraising totaled $25 million, a representative tells Axios.

Driving the news: General Catalyst led the round. Lowercarbon Capital, Exor, Kinnevik, Thrive Capital and Elad Gil also took part.

Catch up fast: The announcement follows deals for Charm's services that are large for the nascent market.

  • In May, the consortium Frontier — which includes Meta, Alphabet, Stripe and other heavyweights — announced $53 million worth of contracts.
  • Last month also brought a purchase commitment from JPMorgan Chase.

How it works: Charm uses waste biomass from farming and forest management and heats it to extremely high temperatures in equipment called pyrolyzers to create "bio-oil" that's permanently injected underground.

  • It has delivered 6,200 tons of CO2 removal so far.
  • The combined deals with Frontier and JPMorgan are for roughly 25 times that amount.

What's next: The funding will help Charm move toward what it hopes will eventually be huge operations.

  • "Continued acceleration requires ramping up our operations in Colorado and the broader corn belt, and expanding our lone pyrolyzer into a continent-wide fleet of tens of thousands," Charm says.
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