Climate-Tech: Aerleum raises USD 6 million in seed round

Paris — Aerleum, an inno­va­tive climate-tech start-up specia­li­zing in the capture and use of CO₂, announ­ces the successful comple­tion of its $6 million seed finan­cing led by 360 Capi­tal and HTGF, with parti­ci­pa­tion from Norrs­ken, Bpifrance and Marble. The funding will acce­le­rate the indus­tria­liza­tion of Aerleum’s novel tech­no­logy that converts atmo­sphe­ric CO₂ and low-carbon hydro­gen into synthe­tic fuels (e‑fuels) and chemi­cals, moving sectors that are diffi­cult to decar­bo­nize towards a carbon-neutral future. Aerleum’s breakth­rough solu­tion captures CO₂ in a reac­tor and converts it using proprie­tary bifunc­tional mate­ri­als and precis­ion heating. The company’s tech­no­logy elimi­na­tes some of the most energy-inten­­sive steps in the value chain, enab­ling compe­ti­tive, scalable produc­tion of e‑fuels and chemi­cals while drama­ti­cally redu­cing green­house gas emis­si­ons. Aerleum has set itself the most ambi­tious target on the market in terms of time to achieve price parity with fossil fuels. The start-up aims to offer indus­tries such as ship­ping, avia­tion and chemi­cals a viable path to decar­bo­niza­tion without compro­mi­sing on cost or scala­bi­lity. Sébas­tien Fiedo­row, co-foun­­der and CEO of Aerleum: “Our mission has been clear from the start: to make e‑fuels as afforda­ble and acces­si­ble as fossil fuels­With this seed round, we are taking a big step forward in scaling our tech­no­logy to meet the urgent need for decar­bo­niza­tion. We intend to trans­form entire indus­tries and enable them to achieve net zero emis­si­ons faster and more effi­ci­ently.” Aerleum not only addres­ses the urgency of the climate crisis, but also solves the econo­mic chal­lenges typi­cally asso­cia­ted with clean energy solu­ti­ons. Unlike tradi­tio­nal proces­ses, which are costly and loca­­tion-bound, Aerleum’s inno­va­tion can be deployed globally. It opti­mi­zes co-loca­­tion for low-carbon hydro­gen sourcing and provi­des a viable alter­na­tive to fossil fuels for indus­tries around the world. Aerleum’s initial focus is on e‑methanol, a clean, high-energy fuel that is rapidly gaining accep­tance as an important alter­na­tive to fossil fuel in the marine and avia­tion sectors. E‑methanol offers signi­fi­cant bene­fits by redu­cing green­house gas emis­si­ons, lowe­ring air pollut­ants and serving as an excel­lent energy carrier as it remains liquid at ambi­ent tempe­ra­ture, making it easy to trans­port and store. The global e‑methanol market is expec­ted to grow signi­fi­cantly as the ship­ping and avia­tion indus­tries are under incre­asing pres­sure to reduce CO2 emis­si­ons. Aerleum is well posi­tio­ned to lead this transformation. 

What’s next for Aerleum?

With the seed funding secu­red, Aerleum will launch its first full-scale pilot plant. The company will work closely with key indus­try play­ers and custo­mers to deploy its tech­no­logy in sectors where emis­si­ons reduc­tions are criti­cal. “Aerleum’s vision is to trans­form indus­tries and create a circu­lar carbon economy where the CO₂ in the air beco­mes a resource,” said Steven Bardey, co-foun­­der and CTO of Aerleum. Reco­gni­tion and support

Aerleum has alre­ady achie­ved great reco­gni­tion and won pres­ti­gious awards, inclu­ding the CMA CGM “Climate Inno­va­tion Chall­enge” Award, the Tech­nip Ener­gies “Clean Mari­time Chall­enge”, the EDF Pulse 2024 Chall­enge, the Prix Pépite and most recently the 2024 i‑lab State Inno­va­tion Chall­enge. The company has recei­ved exten­sive finan­cial support from Bpifrance and the Grand Est region, which has been instru­men­tal in helping Aerleum achieve its mile­sto­nes. In addi­tion, Aerleum is supported by programs such as Air Liquide’s Acce­lair, CMA CGM’s ZEBOX and Semia, all of which provide valuable support in scaling the inno­va­tive solu­tion. “We were exci­ted by Aerleum’s vision of a world where oil is repla­ced by CO2 in the air. This vision is ancho­red in reality, as demons­tra­ted by the first systems and the commer­ci­ally sound busi­ness model, and it paves the way for large-scale appli­ca­ti­ons,” explain Alex­andre Mord­acq and Fran­çois Tison of 360 Capi­tal. “What really sets Aerleum apart is the powerful combi­na­tion of breakth­rough tech­no­logy and a vision to replace pollu­ting chemi­cals like metha­nol with a sustainable, carbon-neutral alter­na­tive. This vision fits perfectly with HTGF’s commit­ment to foste­ring inno­va­tion that not only drives busi­ness growth, but also contri­bu­tes to a more sustainable planet. In just one year, the team has demons­tra­ted remar­kable speed, execu­tion and signi­fi­cant tech­ni­cal mile­sto­nes that unders­core its ability to scale quickly. We look forward to support­ing Aerleum on the next stage of their jour­ney,” says Timo Bertsch from HTGF (photo © TimoBertsch). 

About the HTGF — High-Tech Gründerfonds

HTGF is one of the leading and most active early-stage inves­tors in Germany and Europe, finan­cing start-ups in the fields of deep tech, indus­trial tech, climate tech, digi­tal tech, life scien­ces and chemi­cals. With its expe­ri­en­ced invest­ment team, HTGF supports start-ups in all phases of their deve­lo­p­ment into inter­na­tio­nal market leaders. HTGF invests in the pre-seed and seed phase and can make signi­fi­cant invest­ments in further finan­cing rounds. Across all funds, HTGF has over EUR 2 billion under manage­ment. Since its foun­da­tion in 2005, it has finan­ced more than 750 start-ups and reali­zed over 180 successful exits.
Fund inves­tors in the public-private part­ner­ship include the German Fede­ral Minis­try for Econo­mic Affairs and Climate Protec­tion, KfW Capi­tal as well as 45 compa­nies and family offices.
Further infor­ma­tion can be found at HTGF.de or on Linke­dIn.