Funding Climate Solutions: Greenlyte’s €10.5M Pre-Series A Round
Our portfolio company & leading DAC player, Greenlyte Carbon Technologies, announced a EUR 10.5M Pre-Series A Round, which was co-led by Earlybird and Green Generation Fund with participation from existing supporters: board member Dr. Udo Jung, Carbon Removal Partners, and now a new investor, Partech. We’ve been impressed with Greenlyte’s growth and exceptional innovation strategies since its inception– that’s why we decided to double down in their latest round.
To learn more about what sets Greenlyte apart from other climate innovators, read on!
🚀 Greenlyte’s Ultimate Mission
Greenlyte is a leading European Direct Air Capture startup with a mission to develop a robust and low-cost technology that captures carbon and supplies hydrogen as a byproduct. Greenlyte was born from 15 years of university research and was initially backed by Earlybird-X, our fund with a special interest in university spinoffs. Since the beginning of Earlybird’s partnership with GCT, their success has only evolved — leading us to invest again.
💫 Success from the Start
We decided to double down on Greenlyte for many reasons: significant commercial traction, international partnerships, impressive new hires, the further development of their DAC technology, and sustained commitment to innovative climate solutions.
From the beginning, Greenlyte has boasted an attractive track record — effectively transforming long-term research into developing a technology that can thrive in the marketplace. Since beginning this transformation process, Greenlyte has raised over EUR 20M in just 18 months. Greenlyte has also won not just one but two grants from the European Fund for Regional Developments, further reflecting the general trust investors have in the potential of GCT’s technology.
Dr. Hendrik Brandis, Earlybird Co-Founder and Partner shares, “Greenlyte’s swift progress and ability to secure over EUR 20M in such a short period is a clear indicator of the market’s trust in their offering. We are convinced that their DAC technology will make a real difference in the world and are proud to continue supporting Greenlyte’s team in advancing DAC technology.”
🌀Robust Technology
Greenlyte’s technology is unique in that it removes carbon using a liquid-sorbent solution with minimal energy; this does not rely on heat or pressure, allowing the technology to integrate easily with renewable energy sources. Moving forward with their robust technology, Greenlyte has already built a major Direct Air Capture facility, which can capture 100 tons of CO2 in just 12 months. What’s also particularly promising about Greenlyte’s technology is that it is highly cost-effective.
In January 2024, Greenlyte announced an international partnership with Deep Sky, a gigaton-scale carbon removal company based in Montreal, Canada. Greenlyte’s DAC technology will be installed in 2025 and Deep Sky will manage the system as part of its Alpha Lab test facility. The partners will work together to monitor the system and collect data on CO2 removal and energy consumption. This move positioned Greenlyte closer to its ultimate goal of deploying the technology for widespread commercial use.
🤝 Strong Team
Aside from sound technology and successful funding rounds, Greenlyte has the final key ingredient for startup success: a strong team. With a need for excellent engineers and an established chemical industry, Greenlyte strategically chose Essen as its headquarters location. Currently, the team consists of 35 employees, but this new funding will allow the team to expand even further. Greenlyte’s leadership is remarkably driven by CEO Florian Hildebrand, seasoned researcher Dr. Peter Behr, and game-changing entrepreneur Niklas Friederichsen. The team is easily united with one goal in mind: delivering an impactful solution to combat the climate crisis.
Florian Hildebrand, CEO and co-founder of Greenlyte, shares: “2023 was one of the worst years showing the detrimental effects of global warming. In Q4 2023, it became clear that the demand for DAC was at a pivotal stage. With the new funds, we will be able to grow our team from 30 to 50 people, allowing us to perform technology development and deployment in parallel with our expedited go-to-market, accelerate our scaling, and drive down costs more rapidly. The round is proof of our ambition to build a global DAC champion fast.”
🌱 There is no doubt that Greenlyte is gearing up to be one of the most promising innovative solutions to the climate crisis in the coming years and we are excited to be a part of their journey.
The time is now! 🌍
Are you building something exciting in the ClimateTech space? Then make sure to keep up on LinkedIn with Dr. Hendrik Brandis, Co-Founder & Partner at Earlyird, or reach out directly to Marieke Gehres from the Digital West investment team (marieke@earlybird.com), as well as Frédéric du Bois- Reymond, Partner at Earlybird-X (fdbr@earlybird.com)!
