Startups Will Save Us: Why carbon isn't always a dirty word

✌️ G’DAY

Nature positive, carbon capture, carbon+, on-chain, crypto, NFT, Web3, DeFi & DAO—these are just some of the topics bouncin’ around Raaise HQ this week. The convos we’ve been having with founders and investors are absolutely mind-blowing, which leads us to this week’s startup…

🥁 Introducing… a new kind of vessel that captures carbon → cools it down 😎 → shakes it up 🍸 → and repurposes it, turning 💩→💰.

🚀 STARTUP:

Airbridge.

🌈 MISSION:

Airbridge is on a mission to fundamentally shift the way the world addresses climate change, eliminating industrial emissions and helping reduce the excess of CO2 in our atmosphere.

💡 WHAT:

Airbridge’s groundbreaking tech captures CO2 emissions before they enter the atmosphere, locking it into a solution of ammonium bicarbonate. With further downstream processing using gypsum, calcium nitrates and sulphates, Airbridge produces valuable carbon-negative products for use in:

• agriculture (fertilisers 🐛)

• manufacturing (high gloss paper and paints 🎨)

• construction (cement and lime stone blocks 🧱)

• mining (explosives 💥)

• pharmaceutics (high grade calcium carbonate powders 💊)

• fuels (fuel additives to reduce emissions ⛽️)

With a plan to license its tech in return for royalties on every tonne of CO2 captured and every tonne of commodity produced with that CO2, and with patents secured in 15+ countries, Airbridge plans to scale rapidly across the globe over the next 2 years.

💪 WHY IT MATTERS:

We (humanity) have been responsible for the vast amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere over the last few hundred years, leading to the breakdown of our life support systems. Airbridge has the potential to eliminate trillions of tonnes of CO2 from ever being emitted, helping to accelerate heavy industry’s transition towards [net]zero.

🎧 PODCAST

We caught up with Airbridge CEO, Stephen McGurk, a few weeks back to chat about all things carbon capture and what the future might look like once Airbridge’s tech is deployed globally. Grab your AirPods (or any other brand of headphones 😜) and take a listen.

💃 FESTIVAL TIME! AND WE’RE HOSTING A STAGE 💥

Yes! It’s nearly that time of year (in the UK at least—sorry fellow Aussies), summer festival season. And… we’re stoked to announce we’ll be hosting a stage at this year’s Ideas Fest, a festival for all disruptors, creatives, change-makers, decision-makers & the curious, on 3rd & 4th August, in the UK. If you’d like to pitch or just hang out, then hop on over and register for the event.

🐸 IN OTHER NEWS… BOGS + BILLIONAIRES = ?

Yes, you read that right, bogs. They sure ain’t sexy (and maybe that’s the problem), but peatlands (AKA bogs) are the largest natural terrestrial carbon store. Covering just 3% of the earth’s land surface, they store at least twice as much carbon as all of Earth’s standing forests. But, damaged peatlands are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for almost 5% of global anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Repairing them could help avoid climate disaster. It could also make a fast-fashion billionaire even richer.

👀 SNEAK PEAK:

Next up—a marketplace bringing high quality, nature-based carbon removal solutions on-chain in the voluntary offset market. We’ll try to simplify and demystify how one very cool company is attempting to unlock carbon wealth for LATAM communities using blockchain.

👷‍♀️ BUILDING SOMETHING AMAZING OR WANT IN ON THE NEXT BIG THING?

If you're building an amazing startup in the climate impact space or you're a budding or seasoned impact investor looking for the next big opportunity, take a moment to sign up. It's simple, free, with no commitments and takes <1 minute. 👇