Tallinn startup receives €2.three million to transform CO2 into ‘important’ graphite for electrical automobile batteries

Up Catalyst has closed a seed extension round of €2.36 million to accelerate the development of an industrial pilot reactor that converts CO2 emissions into carbon materials.

According to the Tallinn-based startup, the reactor will be able to produce 100 tons of CO2 per year, which can be used to produce 27 tons of advanced carbon materials such as carbon nanotubes and graphite – a key component of EV batteries.

The company's technology isolates CO2 from the flue gases of heavy industry emitters and then converts it into green carbon in a process called molten salt electrolysis.

“We are essentially converting carbon dioxide gases into carbon nanomaterials through electrolysis,” Apostolos Segkos, the startup’s lead chemical engineer, told TNW in an interview earlier this year.

With this process, Up Catalyst aims first to achieve price parity with traditional carbon sources. The second goal is to reduce dependence on carbon from fossil fuels while reducing the carbon footprint associated with raw material production.

A clear example is batteries for electric vehicles, which typically contain 50 to 100 kg of graphite. According to the startup, switching from fossil fuels to green graphite could avoid 118.7 megatons of CO2 emissions annually.

Making green graphite

Up Catalyst's mission is in line with the EU's energy transition goals and the corresponding need for increased supplies of critical raw materials, Segkos said.

“Graphite is considered a critical material by the EU, along with other important carbon products, especially since we import about 99 percent of it, most of which comes from China.”

“With our technology, we can help localize production,” he added.

At the same time, the startup’s process promises a significantly lower carbon footprint compared to conventional graphite production.

The financing round was equally co-led by venture capital firm Warsaw Equity Group and Estonian sovereign wealth fund SmartCap. It followed an initial seed round of €4 million, bringing the total seed investment to €6.36 million.