Exclusive: DexMat raises $3M to make metals from methane
Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios
DexMat raised a $3 million seed round led by Shell Ventures to convert methane into high-performance materials.
Why it matters: The company says its Galvorn materials can replace steel, aluminum, copper, carbon fiber and Kevlar armor at a fraction of the weight.
Of note: The company counts Apple, Bosch, Toyota and NASA among its customers.
Details: The round is comprised of convertible notes, CEO Bryan Guido Hassin tells Axios.
- Overture Ventures and Climate Avengers participated. Shell and Overture joined DexMat's board as observers.
How it works: DexMat sources the methane from natural gas, renewable natural gas and biogas. The company aims to eventually use captured carbon dioxide.
- "All we need are molecules with carbon in them," says Hassin, who was founder and CEO of the climate-tech accelerator Third Derivative.
Zoom in: Lead investor Shell operates a renewable natural gas plant in Oregon, with others under construction in North America, including one at a dairy plant in Kansas.
- It acquired Europe's largest biogas producer, Nature Energy Biogas, last fall for about $2 billion.