Author: cory
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Global investors support development of Captura’s scalable and cost-effective Direct Ocean Capture technology, also backed by Carbon Removal XPRIZE, the Department of Energy and Frontier Climate.
LOS ANGELES, January 12, 2023 — Captura Corporation, a California-based carbon removal company, today announced the closing of a US$12 million Series A financing round. The raise was led by Equinor Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of multinational energy company Equinor, and joined by Aramco Ventures, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) through the Caltech Seed Fund, Future Planet Capital, Hitachi Ventures, and mTerra Ventures.
This global cohort of investors are backing Captura’s unique Direct Ocean Capture technology that was developed at Caltech and has significant potential as a low-cost and highly scalable carbon removal solution. With extensive experience and expertise across the energy and engineering sectors, large-scale project deployment, and ocean-based infrastructure, these new partnerships position Captura to scale rapidly to meet growing customer demand.
Using only renewable electricity and ocean water as inputs, Captura’s technology removes carbon dioxide (CO2) from the ocean and delivers a measurable and verifiable stream of CO2 that can be permanently stored or utilized in low carbon products, such as sustainable aviation fuel. The CO2-depleted ocean water then draws down an equivalent quantity of CO2 from the atmosphere, utilizing the ocean’s natural capacity as one of the world’s largest carbon sinks.
Captura’s approach lends itself to immense scalability and cost-effectiveness. By leveraging the ocean to remove atmospheric CO2, Captura’s technology avoids the need to move vast amounts of air over man-made absorbents, as is the case with many land-based Direct Air Capture technologies. The process requires no rare earth elements, produces no by-products, and can take advantage of existing ocean-based infrastructure for large-scale deployments, such as desalination plants or retired oil and gas platforms. The technology also has the potential to assist in addressing ocean acidification.
This funding will allow Captura to accelerate its rigorous piloting program, while simultaneously continuing to improve the technology. In 2022, Captura began ocean trials of its first pilot system that is capable of capturing one ton of CO2 annually in Newport Beach. Captura is currently building its next-generation pilot system that will have 100x the capacity of the first and is expected to be installed at an ocean-based facility in 2023. In parallel, Captura’s engineers and scientists are developing proprietary optimized membranes to increase electrical efficiency and further reduce removal costs.
Since inception, Captura has secured funding from a combination of private investment, government funds, and awards, including the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E SEED fund and support from SoCalGas. Captura was named one of 15 Milestone Award winners in the Musk Foundation’s Carbon Removal XPRIZE competition and secured its first carbon removal prepurchase from climate leaders Stripe and Shopify, facilitated by Frontier Climate.
Captura’s team combines expertise from the carbon removal industry, large-scale engineering experience and world class researchers, and is led by Steve Oldham, former CEO of Direct Air Capture company Carbon Engineering.
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Steve Oldham, CEO of Captura, said: “Captura is thrilled to welcome investment from this group of industry-leading companies. Our investors are not only providing the funding to accelerate our technology development efforts, but also bring the global reach and expertise to help drive our business to the next level. Combined with our unique technology and world-class team, Captura is now well positioned to become a major player in the growing carbon removal field.”
Harry Atwater, Co-Founder of Captura, said: “We are very excited to have this diverse cohort of investors join the Captura team. We’re now poised to combine technical innovation borne at Caltech with the proven experience of our global industry and financial partners to make lowcost carbon removal at scale a reality.”
CX Xiang, Chief Technology Officer & Co-Founder of Captura said: “We are also deeply grateful for the support from DOE ARPA-E, SoCalGas, Frontier Climate and XPRIZE. Those seed funds helped de-risk the technology and showcase small pilot systems, and they were consequential in garnering this round of investment.”
Lars Klevjer, Acting Managing Director of Equinor Ventures, said: “Equinor Ventures is committed to investing across a menu of scalable carbon removal technologies. Direct ocean capture represents a compelling space for Equinor to leverage its offshore competence. We look forward to working with Captura to help catalyze its technology and business.”
Bruce Niven, Executive Managing Director of Strategic Venturing, Aramco Ventures, said: “Captura’s ocean carbon capture represents an innovative and cost-effective approach to reducing atmospheric CO2. It can also be integrated with desalination infrastructure which is already deployed at large scale in Saudi Arabia. We are excited to support Captura to commercialize this technology.”
Ed Phillips, Partner at Future Planet Capital, said: “Captura has fast become one of the most promising carbon removal companies on the market by leveraging the world’s greatest natural carbon sink, the Ocean. Of all the solutions we’ve seen, Captura stood out, both on technology and track record of delivery. We are thrilled to partner with Steve, CX, Harry and the Captura team as they build commercial, gigaton scale, sub-$100 carbon removal solutions at a fraction of the capital cost of competing approaches.”
Masakazu Aoki, Executive Officer, SVP and General Manager; Connective Industries Division, Hitachi Ltd., said: “As Hitachi continues to expand in new, promising markets, Captura’s direct ocean carbon capture platform represents both an important growth area and a pathway for continued commitment to Hitachi’s mission of powering social good.”
Lorena Dellagiovanna, Chief Sustainability Officer; Hitachi Ltd., said: “Hitachi is committed to investing in and partnering with companies that represent pathways to a net-zero future. We are excited to have invested in Captura through our venture capital arm, Hitachi Ventures, to drive innovation in the new and promising field of engineered carbon dioxide removal.”
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About Captura Corporation:
Captura is a carbon removal company headquartered in Pasadena, California. Captura uses the ocean to extract CO2 from the atmosphere at large scale and at an affordable cost, providing a critical capability in the fight against climate change. Captura was founded at Caltech and our solution has been validated and supported by the Musk Foundation’s Carbon Removal XPRIZE, the Department of Energy, and Frontier Climate. For more information, visit www.capturacorp.com.
About Equinor Ventures:
Equinor Ventures is Equinor’s corporate venture capital arm dedicated to investing in ambitious early phase and growth companies. We believe that the innovation, creativity and agility of startups can drive change, and transition the energy industry towards a low carbon future.
About Aramco Ventures:
Aramco Ventures is the corporate venturing subsidiary of Aramco, the world’s leading fully integrated energy and petrochemical enterprise. Headquartered in Dhahran with offices in North America, Europe and Asia, Aramco Ventures strategic venturing programs’ invest globally in start-up and high growth companies with technologies of strategic importance to its parent, Aramco, primarily supporting the company’s operational decarbonization, new lower-carbon fuels businesses, and digital transformation initiatives. Aramco Ventures also operates Prosperity7, the companies disruptive technologies investment program. For more information please visit www.aramcoventures.com.
About Future Planet Capital:
Future Planet Capital is a venture capital firm investing in founders and businesses solving the world’s greatest challenges in climate change, education, health, sustainable growth & security. The firm manages a number of different funds and strategies focussed on companies and founders from the world’s top universities and research centres. Headquartered in London, Future Planet Capital have made investments in over 300 companies and has around $400m in committed capital. This includes the Blue Ocean mandate in partnership with the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation to advance sustainable, scalable solutions to ocean productivity and preservation.
About Hitachi Ventures:
Hitachi Ventures is the strategic corporate venture capital arm of Hitachi, Ltd. We invest in innovative startups with strategic relevance to Hitachi, Ltd. that address society’s key technological challenges in target areas such as mobility, health care and smart life, industry, energy and IT. With offices in Munich and Boston we cover Europe, Israel, and North America. We look for leading startups with exciting technologies and business models which we support as investors as well as through strategic collaborations with Hitachi business units.
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The advanced technology could help remove carbon from the atmosphere and accelerate CA’s climate goals
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Nov. 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) and Captura, a carbon removal company founded at Caltech, announced the deployment of an innovative, direct ocean carbon removal technology that uses 100% renewable energy and ocean water to draw down surplus atmospheric CO2. The technology was recently installed at Caltech’s Kerckhoff Marine Lab in Newport Beach and marks the first time the Captura system will be operating in ocean water conditions. Over the next few months, researchers will test and validate the energy efficiency costs and purity of the extracted CO2. Captura plans to scale up the technology to remove millions of tons of atmospheric CO2, which could help accelerate achieving California’s climate goals.
“Just like solar panels, wind turbines, and clean fuels, carbon removal technologies will be essential tools in the clean energy transition,” said Neil Navin, SoCalGas vice president for clean energy innovations. “Supporting innovations like the Captura technology helps utilities like SoCalGas plan for the infrastructure investments that will be needed to reach California’s climate goals affordably and reliably.”
Carbon management technologies are expected to play an important role in meeting the state’s climate goals. In California, Governor Gavin Newsom’s recent ambitious climate proposal includes setting a 20 million metric tons (MMT) carbon removal target for 2030 and 100 MMT carbon removal target for 2045, emphasizing the role of natural and working lands and the need for safe and equitable engineered carbon removal.
“The climate crisis is already having a staggering impact on California, from droughts and wildfires to heat waves and other catastrophic weather events,” said Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris. “These impacts are only expected to intensify, posing a significant threat to public health and our economy. State leaders need to deploy the full range of technologies available to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon removal, which leading experts have identified as a critical component of any successful strategy to meet our climate goals.”
“Captura’s process removes a measurable stream of CO2 from the ocean. We then return that de-carbonized water back into the ocean, which then absorbs the same quantity of CO2 from the air. The CO2 stream we produce can then be permanently sequestered or utilized in products,” said Steve Oldham, CEO of Captura. “We are grateful for the support that SoCalGas has provided Captura, enabling this initial pilot demonstration and assisting us in quickly scaling up the technology.”
At commercial scale, Captura plans to deploy its technology atop offshore oil and gas platforms as they reach end of life. In this way, Captura can utilize existing infrastructure and co-locate the technology with existing storage sites. The company works closely with environmental health groups and ocean science experts for the protection of ocean ecosystems.
Last year SoCalGas announced its aspiration to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions in its operations and the energy it delivers by 2045 and earlier this year released its ASPIRE 2045 Sustainability Strategy to help reach that goal.
SoCalGas research has found that carbon management tools like Captura’s, when combined with electrification and clean fuels like hydrogen and renewable natural gas, deliver the most affordable, resilient, and technologically proven path to full carbon neutrality.
In 2021, SoCalGas joined the U.S. Department of Energy to fund testing of a first-of-its-kind direct air capture technology that captures carbon dioxide from the air while simultaneously collecting water that can be reused for irrigation. The company has a dozen carbon management projects in its Research, Development & Demonstration portfolio, designed to develop new tools to help with decarbonization and net-zero innovation.
Video of the pilot ocean carbon removal technology is available here.
About SoCalGas
Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas® is the largest gas distribution utility in the United States. SoCalGas delivers affordable, reliable, and increasingly renewable gas service to 21.8 million consumers across 24,000 square miles of Central and Southern California. Gas delivered through the company’s pipelines will continue to play a key role in California’s clean energy transition—providing electric grid reliability and supporting wind and solar energy deployment.
SoCalGas’ mission is to build the cleanest, safest and most innovative energy company in America. In support of that mission, SoCalGas aspires to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in its operations and delivery of energy by 2045 and to replacing 20 percent of its traditional natural gas supply to core customers with renewable natural gas (RNG) by 2030. Renewable natural gas is made from waste created by landfills, and wastewater treatment plants. SoCalGas is also committed to investing in its gas delivery infrastructure while keeping bills affordable for customers. SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra (NYSE: SRE), an energy infrastructure company based in San Diego.
For more information visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect with SoCalGas on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas) and Facebook.
About Captura
Captura is a carbon removal company headquartered in Pasadena, California. Captura uses the ocean to extract CO2 from the atmosphere at huge scale and at an affordable cost, providing a critical capability in the fight against climate change. Captura was founded at Caltech and was selected as one of 15 Milestone Awards winners for the Carbon Removal XPRIZE. For more information, visit www.capturacorp.com
This press release contains statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions with respect to the future, involve risks and uncertainties, and are not guarantees. Future results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement. These forward-looking statements represent our estimates and assumptions only as of the date of this press release. We assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other factors.
In this press release, forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as “believes,” “expects,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “contemplates,” “plans,” “estimates,” “projects,” “forecasts,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “will,” “confident,” “may,” “can,” “potential,” “possible,” “proposed,” “in process,” ” construct,” “develop,” “opportunity,” “initiative,” “target,” “outlook,” “optimistic,” “maintain,” “continue,” “progress,” “advance,” “goal,” “aim,” “commit,” or similar expressions, or when we discuss our guidance, priorities, strategy, goals, vision, mission, opportunities, projections, intentions or expectations.
Factors, among others, that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement include risks and uncertainties relating to: decisions, investigations, regulations, issuances or revocations of permits or other authorizations, renewals of franchises, and other actions by (i) the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), U.S. Department of Energy, and other governmental and regulatory bodies and (ii) the U.S. and states, counties, cities and other jurisdictions therein in which we do business; the success of business development efforts and construction projects, including risks in (i) completing construction projects or other transactions on schedule and budget, (ii) realizing anticipated benefits from any of these efforts if completed, and (iii) obtaining the consent or approval of partners or other third parties, including governmental and regulatory bodies; civil and criminal litigation, regulatory inquiries, investigations, arbitrations and other proceedings, including those related to the natural gas leak at the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility; changes to laws and regulations; cybersecurity threats, including by state and state-sponsored actors, by ransomware or other attacks on our systems or the systems of third-parties with which we conduct business, including to the energy grid or other energy infrastructure, all of which have become more pronounced due to recent geopolitical events, such as the war in Ukraine; failure of our counterparties to honor their contracts and commitments; our ability to borrow money on favorable terms or otherwise and meet our debt service obligations, including due to (i) actions by credit rating agencies to downgrade our credit ratings or place those ratings on negative outlook and (ii) rising interest rates and inflation; the impact on our cost of capital and the affordability of customer rates due to volatility in inflation, interest rates and commodity prices and our ability to effectively hedge these risks; the impact of energy and climate policies, laws, rules and disclosures, as well as related goals and actions of companies in our industry, including actions to reduce or eliminate reliance on natural gas, any deterioration of or increased uncertainty in the political or regulatory environment for California natural gas distribution companies and the risk of nonrecovery for stranded assets; the pace of the development and adoption of new technologies in the energy sector, including those designed to support governmental and private party energy and climate goals, and our ability to efficiently incorporate them into our business; weather, natural disasters, pandemics, accidents, equipment failures, explosions, acts of terrorism, information system outages or other events that disrupt our operations, damage our facilities or systems, cause the release of harmful materials, cause fires or subject us to liability for damages, fines and penalties, some of which may not be recoverable through regulatory mechanisms, may be disputed or not covered by insurers, or may impact our ability to obtain satisfactory levels of affordable insurance; the availability of natural gas and natural gas storage capacity, including disruptions caused by limitations on the withdrawal of natural gas from storage facilities; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on capital projects, regulatory approvals and the execution of our operations; changes in tax and trade policies, laws and regulations, including tariffs, revisions to international trade agreements and sanctions, such as those that have been imposed and that may be imposed in the future in connection with the war in Ukraine, which may increase our costs, reduce our competitiveness, impact our ability to do business with certain counterparties, or impair our ability to resolve trade disputes; and other uncertainties, some of which are difficult to predict and beyond our control.
These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the reports that the company has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These reports are available through the EDGAR system free-of-charge on the SEC’s website, www.sec.gov, and on Sempra’s website, www.sempra.com. Investors should not rely unduly on any forward-looking statements.
Sempra Infrastructure, Sempra Texas, Sempra Mexico, Sempra Texas Utilities, Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC (Oncor) and Infraestructura Energética Nova, S.A.P.I. de C.V. (IEnova) are not the same companies as the California utilities, San Diego Gas & Electric Company or Southern California Gas Company, and Sempra Infrastructure, Sempra Texas, Sempra Mexico, Sempra Texas Utilities, Oncor and IEnova are not regulated by the CPUC.
SOURCE Southern California Gas Company
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Captura is excited to be starting ocean trials of our carbon removal technology at Caltech’s Kerckhoff Marine Laboratories in Newport Beach, California. Following a proven end-to-end demonstration at Captura’s facility in Pasadena, we are thrilled to now be operating with a continuous flow of seawater. Capable of removing one ton of CO2 from the atmosphere per year, our first pilot is equipped with sensors and instruments to constantly monitor performance. This pilot system will help Captura continue to drive innovation in our mission to enable large-scale carbon removal via the world’s oceans.
In parallel, Captura is now moving into the next phase of deployment with the assembly of our second pilot, which will have 100 times the capacity of our first.
These pilot plants will serve as real-world demonstrations of the rapidly scalable and deployable potential of our Direct Ocean Capture technology. Using only seawater and renewable energy to power safe, permanent, and verifiable carbon removal, our unique approach enables high-quality carbon credits at an affordable price.
