What are the fundraising trends in the CCUS market?
In our CCUS market deck, you will find everything you need to understand the market
SUMMARY
This report analyzes publicly disclosed equity rounds raised by pure-play CCUS companies between January 2024 and May 2026, using a $300K minimum round-size threshold and excluding undisclosed, debt, grant, project-finance, acquisition, SPAC, and non-pure-play cases. The resulting sample covers 20 deals in 2024, 18 deals in 2025, and 12 year-to-date deals in 2026.
Less capital is going into the CCUS market, but the decline is not a collapse in activity. Full-year funding fell from about $572M in 2024 to about $471M in 2025, while year-to-date 2026 reached about $139M versus about $198M over the comparable 2025 period.
The CCUS market is currently being driven by more deals and smaller rounds. Year-to-date 2026 deal count is higher than the comparable 2025 period, but the median round fell from about $15M to about $6M.
Capital concentration remains one of the defining features of the CCUS market. So far in 2026, the top three deals account for nearly 69% of all capital, even though there is no $50M-plus megaround in the dataset.
The category mix has shifted sharply. Direct Air Capture led the CCUS market in 2024 and 2025 by capital, but year-to-date 2026 is dominated by CO2 Utilization Platforms, which represent about 83% of both deals and capital.
The practical market story is moving from capture capacity toward product revenue. Fuels, materials, chemicals, concrete inputs, graphite-like products, and other CO2-derived outputs are now attracting more investor attention than standalone capture infrastructure.
The stage mix shows an early and ambiguous market rather than a mature scale-up market. Year-to-date 2026 has no disclosed Series B or later round, and 100% of capital sits in seed, Series A, or unknown-stage venture rounds.
New startups are still entering the CCUS market, but they are not absorbing much capital. First financings are 25% of year-to-date 2026 deals but only about 7% of capital.
North America remains the largest CCUS funding region, but Europe is gaining relative momentum. In year-to-date 2026, North America accounts for about 52% of capital, while Europe accounts for about 33%, a much more balanced split than the comparable 2025 period.
The strongest overall interpretation is that the CCUS market is not dead, not mature, and not broadly scaling. It is rotating toward utilization, smaller commercialization bets, and evidence-sensitive financing rounds.
This chart, featured in our CCUS market deck, illustrates revenue distribution by customer segment in the CCUS market
Is more or less capital going into the CCUS market?
Less capital is going into the CCUS market, but the decline is not a simple collapse. So far in 2026, verified public equity funding for the CCUS market reached about $139M across 12 deals, versus about $198M across 9 deals over the comparable year-to-date period in 2025.
That means capital is down by roughly 30%, even though deal count is up by about one-third. The cleaner full-year comparison points in the same direction: full-year 2025 funding was about $471M, down from about $572M in 2024, while deal count slipped from 20 to 18.
The important indicator is the difference between capital volume and deal count. If funding dollars fall while deal count rises, the CCUS market is not being abandoned; investors are still writing checks, but they are writing smaller checks.
The full-year comparison between 2025 and 2024 is more reliable for structural interpretation because it covers complete calendar years. That comparison says the CCUS market cooled: total funding fell by about $101M, deal count fell slightly, average round size declined from about $29M to about $26M, and median round size fell from about $19M to about $13M.
The fresher year-to-date comparison adds a different message. So far in 2026, the CCUS market has more deals than it had over the comparable period in 2025, but much less capital per deal, with average round size falling from about $22M to about $12M and median round size falling from about $15M to about $6M.
For a deeper analysis of the funding slowdown, see the full CCUS market report.
Is CCUS funding activity driven by more deals or larger rounds?
CCUS funding activity is currently being driven by more deals, not larger rounds. So far in 2026, the CCUS market has 12 verified equity deals, compared with 9 deals over the comparable period in 2025, but total capital is lower, average round size is roughly half as large, and median round size has fallen from about $15M to about $6M.
The year-to-date comparison is the most useful here because the question is about current funding activity. A market cannot be described as driven by larger rounds when the number of deals rises and the capital total falls.
The round-size indicators make the conclusion stronger. In the comparable 2025 period, the average round was about $22M and the median was about $15M. So far in 2026, the average is about $12M and the median is about $6M.
The full-year comparison points in the same direction, though less dramatically. Full-year 2025 had 18 deals versus 20 in 2024, while average round size fell from about $29M to about $26M and median round size fell from about $19M to about $13M.
The practical takeaway is that the CCUS market is not seeing a broad upshift in investor conviction per company. A healthier larger-rounds market would show rising capital, stable or rising median round size, and several $50M-plus financings; so far in 2026, there are no $50M-plus rounds.
Is CCUS capital moving toward later-stage or earlier-stage companies?
CCUS capital has moved back toward earlier-stage and unlabeled venture rounds so far in 2026, after a brief late-stage-heavy year in 2025. So far in 2026, 100% of verified public equity capital is in seed, Series A, or unknown-stage venture rounds, with no Series B or later financing.
The most useful reading combines both time windows. Full-year 2025 made the CCUS market look more later-stage because Series C and Series D+ rounds represented about $245M, or just over half of annual capital.
But that late-stage signal was narrow. It depended mainly on Twelve at $83M and Climeworks at $162M, rather than a broad cohort of growth-stage CCUS companies graduating together.
So far in 2026, the stage mix reverses the signal. The largest deals are Lydian at about $44M, Rivan at about $31M, and Gigablue at $20M, none of which creates a conventional late-stage financing layer.
The unknown-stage share should not be dismissed as noise. In the CCUS market, round labels often do not map cleanly onto software-style venture progression, but the absence of Series B+ capital in 2026 so far is still a real maturity warning.
This chart, included in our CCUS market deck, compares the main business model options for carbon capture project developers
Is the CCUS market maturing or still experimental?
The CCUS market is still experimental, with pockets of maturity around a small number of proven or strategically validated companies. The strongest evidence is that so far in 2026 there are no Series B+ rounds, no $50M-plus megarounds, no repeat investors appearing across multiple deals, and 6 of 12 rounds are under $5M.
A mature market would show more repeat growth financings, more recurring lead investors, larger median rounds, and a clearer pipeline from seed to Series A to Series B. The CCUS market does not yet show that pattern consistently.
The full-year 2025 figures briefly made the CCUS market look more mature because late-stage capital exceeded early-stage capital. But that maturity signal depended heavily on two companies: Climeworks and Twelve.
The 2024 market also points to commercialization rather than maturity. Series A accounted for 65% of deals and 66% of capital in 2024, which means the central financing question was which companies could move from technical validation into first commercial deployment.
So far in 2026, the experimental character is even clearer. The market is dominated by companies turning CO2 into fuels, chemicals, construction inputs, graphite, textiles, and other materials, which suggests investors are testing business models as much as they are testing capture technologies.
Are new startups still entering the CCUS market?
Yes, new startups are still entering the CCUS market, but new entrants are not capturing much of the capital. So far in 2026, first financings represent 3 of 12 deals, or 25% of activity, but only about $9M of the $139M raised, or roughly 7% of capital.
The year-to-date comparison is the best indicator because startup formation is a current-market question. Over the comparable period in 2025, first financings were 2 of 9 deals, or 22% of activity, but only 2.5% of capital.
The full-year comparison adds useful context. In 2024, first financings were 20% of deals and 3.8% of capital; in 2025, first financings rose to 33% of deals and 6.5% of capital.
This gap between deal share and capital share is one of the most important signals in the CCUS market. Investors are willing to place small option-value bets on new startups, especially in utilization, mineralization, synthetic fuels, and carbon-to-materials.
The answer is therefore yes, but with a major caveat. The CCUS market remains open at the seed layer and selective at the scale-up layer.
For the broader category view across new entrants, first financings, and follow-on activity, see the CCUS market deck.
Are more investors entering the CCUS market?
No, the current evidence does not show more investors entering the CCUS market in a stronger way. So far in 2026, there are about 35 named disclosed investors and about 9 tier-1 investors across 12 deals, versus about 42 disclosed investors and about 13 tier-1 investors across 9 deals over the comparable 2025 period.
This is a subtle but important point. If deal count rises while investor count falls, the funding landscape is not necessarily broadening; it may be spreading across smaller syndicates, undisclosed investor groups, or less institutionally dense rounds.
The full-year comparison between 2025 and 2024 also points to weaker investor depth. Full-year 2024 had about 70 unique disclosed investors and roughly 31 tier-1 investors across 20 deals, while full-year 2025 had about 76 disclosed investors but only about 22 tier-1 investors across 18 deals.
The top-investor pattern reinforces this conclusion. In 2024, Siemens Financial Services appeared in 4 deals, Amazon Climate Pledge Fund and Lowercarbon Capital appeared in 3 each, and several other investors appeared twice; so far in 2026, no named investor appears more than once.
The better interpretation is that investor attention is still present, but not deepening. The CCUS market continues to attract strategically relevant investors, but the evidence does not support the claim that more investors are entering with stronger conviction.
This chart, included in our CCUS market deck, illustrates yearly funding for CCUS startups
Are top investors getting more or less active in CCUS?
Top investors are getting less active in the CCUS market, at least by repeat participation. So far in 2026, no named investor appears in more than one qualifying public equity deal.
The repeat-investor metric matters more than the raw investor count. A market can have many one-off investors and still lack durable conviction, especially in CCUS, where technical diligence and deployment credibility are unusually important.
The 2024 CCUS market had a clearer set of repeat credibility anchors. Siemens, Amazon Climate Pledge Fund, Lowercarbon, Aramco Ventures, Shell Ventures, Counteract, and Atlantic Labs all appeared more than once.
The 2025 CCUS market was more fragmented. Elemental Impact, MOL Switch, and Energy Capital Ventures each appeared twice, but the broader list of top climate and industrial investors did not repeat as often.
So far in 2026, the lack of any repeat named investor is a caution signal. It does not mean top investors have left the CCUS market, but it does mean the market lacks a visible repeat-backer core in the current year-to-date period.
Which CCUS subcategories are gaining momentum?
CO2 Utilization Platforms are the clearest subcategory gaining momentum in the CCUS market. So far in 2026, utilization accounts for 10 of 12 deals and about $116M of $139M raised, or roughly 83% of both deals and capital.
The key point is that utilization is not just gaining dollars; it is gaining breadth. The 2026 utilization group includes sustainable aviation fuel, synthetic fuels, concrete curing, carbon-negative construction materials, formates, biochemicals, CO2-to-materials, mineralized industrial inputs, graphite-like materials, and waste-rock conversion.
This is meaningfully different from 2024 and 2025. In 2024, Direct Air Capture dominated the CCUS market with 65% of capital and 55% of deals; in 2025, Direct Air Capture still led capital with 56% of funding.
So far in 2026, standalone Direct Air Capture has no qualifying deal as its own category. Some 2026 companies include atmospheric capture or DAC-like inputs inside fuel systems, but the investment thesis is being framed around fuels or materials, not standalone DAC infrastructure.
The most defensible subcategory conclusion is that the CCUS market is rotating from capture-first narratives toward product-linked utilization.
We cover this subcategory shift in more detail in the market report covering CCUS subcategory momentum.
Which CCUS subcategories are losing momentum?
Standalone Direct Air Capture is the most visible subcategory losing momentum in the CCUS market so far in 2026. In 2024, Direct Air Capture represented 11 of 20 deals and about $373M, or 65% of all funding; so far in 2026, standalone DAC has no qualifying public equity deal in the counted period.
That does not mean DAC has become irrelevant. Some 2026 utilization companies still touch atmospheric capture or integrated CO2 sourcing, including Sora Fuel and Rivan, but the financing category has changed.
Carbon Capture Systems are also losing near-term momentum. In 2025, Carbon Capture Systems represented 3 deals and about $39M for the full year, including Mitico, CarbonQuest, and RepAir; so far in 2026, there are no qualifying Carbon Capture Systems deals.
CO2 Transport Infrastructure and CO2 Conditioning Systems remain structurally absent. There were no verified 2024 equity deals in those categories, none in 2025, and none so far in 2026.
The better interpretation is not that investors have rejected all capture and infrastructure. The better interpretation is that investors are avoiding categories where the business model depends heavily on large capex, permitting, long project cycles, or carbon-credit-only monetization.
This chart, included in our CCUS market deck, shows why CarbonCure stands out in CCUS
Which regions are gaining momentum in CCUS funding?
Europe is gaining momentum in the CCUS market, and the Middle East has a narrower but still meaningful momentum signal. So far in 2026, Europe accounts for about 33% of deals and 33% of capital, compared with only 11% of deals and 7% of capital over the comparable year-to-date period in 2025.
The European signal is especially important because it is not based on one giant incumbent round in 2026. Full-year 2025 Europe looked strong in dollars because of Climeworks, but the 2026 activity is spread across Carbonaide, Co-reactive, sequestra, and Rivan.
The content of the European deals also matters. Europe’s 2026 momentum is utilization-heavy, with concrete curing, carbon-negative construction materials, mineralization, and synthetic fuels all represented.
The Middle East signal is different. The region’s 2026 activity comes from Gigablue’s $20M Series A first close, while 2025 included 44.01 and RepAir, suggesting the Middle East matters where geography, ocean systems, geology, industrial deployment, or strategic capital align with the technology.
North America still leads in absolute terms, with 52% of 2026 year-to-date capital and 50% of deals. But the region gaining relative momentum is Europe, while North America remains the largest but less overwhelmingly dominant region.
Which regions are losing momentum in CCUS funding?
North America is losing relative momentum in the CCUS market, even though it remains the largest region by dollars and deals. So far in 2026, North America accounts for about 52% of capital and 50% of deals, down from 83% of capital and 67% of deals over the comparable year-to-date period in 2025.
The distinction between absolute leadership and relative momentum matters. North America still has 6 of 12 deals and about $72M of capital in 2026 so far, which makes it the largest regional market.
Asia-Pacific is also weak in the 2026 year-to-date period. Asia-Pacific has 1 deal and about $1M of capital so far in 2026, compared with 1 deal for full-year 2025 and 2 deals in full-year 2024.
Africa has lost visibility after appearing in 2024 through Octavia Carbon. There are no qualifying Africa deals in 2025 or so far in 2026, and Latin America remains absent throughout the reviewed periods.
The better interpretation is that the CCUS market is less North America-dominated than it was over the comparable 2025 period, but not yet truly global.
Is the CCUS market becoming more global or more regionally concentrated?
The CCUS market is becoming somewhat more geographically balanced between North America and Europe, but it is not becoming truly global. So far in 2026, North America has 50% of deals, Europe has 33%, the Middle East has 8%, and Asia-Pacific has 8%.
By capital, North America has 52%, Europe has 33%, the Middle East has 14%, and Asia-Pacific has 1%. That is less regionally concentrated than the comparable 2025 period, when North America captured 83% of capital.
The full-year comparisons show the same transatlantic concentration. In 2024, North America and Europe together represented 90% of deals and 90% of capital; in 2025, they represented 83% of deals and 93% of capital.
The absence of Latin America across all three periods is striking. Africa appears in 2024 but disappears in 2025 and 2026 year-to-date, while Asia-Pacific appears only occasionally with small capital totals.
The best answer is that the CCUS market is becoming less North America-concentrated, but not broadly global. The market is shifting from North America-led to transatlantic-plus-selective-regional.
For ongoing regional tracking across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America, see the full market view on CCUS regional funding.
This chart, included in our CCUS market deck, shows how carbon capture deployment has driven growth in the CCUS market over time
Is CCUS capital moving toward proven winners or new opportunities?
CCUS capital is still moving mostly toward proven winners and previously validated companies, even though deal count shows continued exploration of new opportunities. So far in 2026, follow-on financings represent 75% of deals and about 93% of capital.
The same pattern appears in 2025 and 2024. Full-year 2025 first financings were 33% of deals but only 6.5% of capital, while full-year 2024 first financings were 20% of deals but only 3.8% of capital.
This matters because the CCUS market is technically and commercially demanding. Investors appear willing to fund early experiments, but larger checks require evidence.
That evidence may include prior financing history, paid pilots, industrial partnerships, offtake term sheets, strategic corporate investors, a plausible product market, or a credible route to durable storage.
The best interpretation is that investor imagination is moving toward new opportunity areas, but investor dollars are still moving toward proven or at least previously financed companies. In the CCUS market, exploration is happening at the edge; conviction capital still goes to validation.
Is the CCUS market becoming winner-takes-most?
Yes, the CCUS market is becoming winner-takes-most in capital allocation, though not in company formation. So far in 2026, the top three deals captured about 69% of all funding, the top five captured about 85%, and the bottom half of deals captured only about 11%.
The full-year comparisons show that this is not new. In 2024, the top three deals captured 48% of funding, the top five captured 61%, and the top ten captured 84%; in 2025, the top three captured 63%, the top five captured 75%, and the top ten captured 91%.
The 2026 year-to-date market remains highly concentrated even without a formal megaround above $50M. That is important because it means concentration is not only a mega-round artifact.
The largest-to-median ratio confirms the same point. In 2024, the largest deal was about 7.8 times the median round; in 2025, the ratio increased to 13 times; so far in 2026, the ratio is about 8 times.
The best answer is that the CCUS market is winner-takes-most by capital, but not winner-takes-all by activity. The market still supports many experiments, but category-defining capital is concentrated around a small group of companies.
Is the next wave of CCUS winners becoming visible?
Yes, the next wave of winners in the CCUS market is becoming visible, but the signal is still early and should not be overinterpreted. So far in 2026, the clearest emerging winners are not standalone DAC companies; they are utilization and product-linked companies such as Lydian, Rivan, Sora Fuel, Rubi, Co-reactive, and Carbonaide.
The strongest indicator is category concentration. CO2 Utilization Platforms represent 83% of deals and 83% of capital so far in 2026, which suggests investors are increasingly interested in companies that convert CO2 into fuels, materials, chemicals, construction inputs, or other revenue-generating products.
The second indicator is the type of validation attached to the rounds. Rubi reported more than $60M in offtake term sheets alongside a $7.5M financing, while Sora Fuel and Rivan are tied to synthetic fuels and aviation or gas-grid use cases.
However, the next-wave signal is not yet fully confirmed. There are no Series B+ rounds in 2026 so far, and the median round is only about $6M, so many apparent winners are still in early commercialization or pre-scale phases.
The best reading is that the next wave is visible by theme, not yet by final company ranking. The likely winners will combine a hard product market, measurable carbon impact, strategic or specialist investor validation, and credible deployment economics.
For more context on the emerging utilization cohort and the signals that separate durable companies from one-off experiments, see the deeper analysis of the CCUS market.
As this chart shows, and as featured in our CCUS market deck, search interest in carbon credits has grown significantly
Is the CCUS funding landscape fragmenting or consolidating?
The CCUS funding landscape is fragmenting by investor participation and subcategory experimentation, while consolidating by capital concentration. So far in 2026, no named investor appears in more than one qualifying deal, which points to fragmentation, while the top three deals capture nearly 69% of capital, which points to consolidation.
Investor fragmentation is clearest in the repeat-backer data. In 2024, several investors appeared repeatedly, including Siemens Financial Services, Amazon Climate Pledge Fund, Lowercarbon Capital, Aramco Ventures, Shell Ventures, Counteract, and Atlantic Labs.
In 2025, repeat investor activity thinned to Elemental Impact, MOL Switch, and Energy Capital Ventures, each with 2 deals. So far in 2026, there are no repeat named investors, which means the capital network looks less coordinated.
Subcategory fragmentation is also visible. The 2026 CCUS market includes sustainable aviation fuel, synthetic fuel, formates, biochemicals, concrete curing, mineralized construction inputs, carbon-to-materials, ocean storage, coastal dissolved-inorganic-carbon storage, and waste-rock conversion.
The most accurate answer is that the CCUS market is fragmented in ideas and investors but consolidated in dollars. That is a common pattern in early commercialization markets: many pathways are being tested, but only a few companies can attract meaningful capital at any given time.
Where is investor attention shifting in CCUS?
Investor attention in the CCUS market is shifting toward product-linked utilization, evidence-backed commercialization, and hybrid systems that combine carbon handling with industrial output. The short version is that investors are less interested in abstract capture narratives and more interested in CO2 that becomes a fuel, material, chemical, construction input, or measurable storage pathway.
The 2026 evidence is unusually clear. CO2 Utilization Platforms represent 10 of 12 deals and about $116M of the $139M raised so far, including Lydian, Carbonaide, Co-reactive, OCOchem, Intrinsic Foundries, Rubi, sequestra, Sora Fuel, Rivan, and Carbonyx.
Attention is also shifting toward validation signals outside the funding round itself. Offtake, product demand, strategic investors, industrial integration, credible measurement, and deployment economics now matter more than a generic claim that a company can capture or store carbon.
This does not mean infrastructure-style CCUS is irrelevant. It means the venture equity market is currently more comfortable funding companies with a near-term commercial wedge than companies that require large capex, permitting, transport networks, or carbon-market depth before the business can work.
The broader read is that investor attention is moving from climate infrastructure promise to industrial product proof. That shift is healthy in the long run, but it reduces tolerance for large speculative rounds in the short run.
For real-time tracking of how investor attention is moving across capture, DAC, utilization, storage, transport, conditioning, and regional capital pools, see the CCUS market report.
All the funding deals in the CCUS market from 2024 to Apr 2026
The table below lists every disclosed funding deal in the supplied CCUS dataset from January 2024 to April 2026, covering companies across direct air capture, carbon capture systems, CO2 storage services, and CO2 utilization platforms.
Each row shows the company, fundraising date, what the company does, its category, funding stage, round size, region, whether it was a first financing or follow-on, the tier-1 investor if any, and the announcement source. For the broader investability view, see our CCUS market deck.
| Company | Date | What they do | Category | Stage | Deal size | Region | First/Follow-on | Tier 1 investor(s) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carbonyx | Apr 2026 | Electrochemical processing platform turning waste rock and CO2 into carbon-negative carbonates, silica, and other usable materials. | CO2 Utilization Platforms | Seed | $0.85M | North America | First financing | None clearly tier-1 | BetaKit |
| Rivan | Apr 2026 | Vertically integrated synthetic fuel platform using renewable energy, hydrogen, CO2, reactors, and gas-grid injection, with R&D including direct-air capture. | CO2 Utilization Platforms | Series A | $31.25M | Europe | Follow on | IQ Capital; Plural | Rivan |
| Sora Fuel | Apr 2026 | Jet fuel production from air, water, and renewable energy using integrated atmospheric CO2 capture and fuel synthesis. | CO2 Utilization Platforms | Unknown | $14.6M | North America | Follow on | Spero Ventures; Inspired Capital; Engine Ventures; Wireframe Ventures | PR Newswire |
| sequestra | Mar 2026 | Industrial CO2 mineralization platform converting CO2 and mineral residues into stable carbonates and construction-material inputs. | CO2 Utilization Platforms | Seed | $3.3M | Europe | Follow on | None clearly tier-1 | EU-Startups |
| Rubi | Mar 2026 | Enzyme-based CO2-to-materials platform producing essential materials from waste carbon, including materials for textiles and other industries. | CO2 Utilization Platforms | Unknown | $7.5M | North America | Follow on | AP Ventures | PR Newswire |
| Intrinsic Foundries | Feb 2026 | Carbon-to-value biomanufacturing platform converting industrial emissions, effluents, and residues into biochemicals using microbial biorefinery systems and photobioreactors. | CO2 Utilization Platforms | Seed | $1.4M | Asia-Pacific | First financing | None clearly tier-1 | Entrackr |
| pHathom Technologies | Feb 2026 | Captures biogenic CO2 from coastal bioenergy and industrial facilities and converts it into stable dissolved inorganic carbon for durable ocean storage. | CO2 Storage Services | Seed | $2.8M | North America | Follow on | Propeller Ventures; Carmeuse Ventures | Business Wire |
| Carbonaide | Jan 2026 | CO2 curing and permanent CO2 mineral storage in concrete, with a service platform for CO2 flow, carbon measurement, and credit issuance. | CO2 Utilization Platforms | Unknown | $4M | Europe | Follow on | None clearly tier-1 | Tech.eu |
| Co-reactive | Jan 2026 | Mineralizes captured CO2 with minerals or industrial slags to produce carbon-negative supplementary cementitious materials. | CO2 Utilization Platforms | Seed | $7M | Europe | First financing | High-Tech Gründerfonds; AFI Ventures | Ventech |
| Gigablue | Jan 2026 | Marine carbon dioxide removal using microalgae carbon fixation and sinking to store carbon in the deep ocean. | CO2 Storage Services | Series A | $20M | Middle East | Follow on | Planet Ocean Capital | Gigablue |
| OCOchem | Jan 2026 | Uses captured industrial CO2 and water in electrolyzer cells to produce formic acid and formate compounds for fuels, chemicals, and industrial uses. | CO2 Utilization Platforms | Unknown | $2.15M | North America | Follow on | Unknown | GeekWire |
| Lydian | Jan 2026 | Converts CO2, water, and renewable electricity into sustainable aviation fuel and other CO2-derived fuels. | CO2 Utilization Platforms | Unknown | $43.7M | North America | Follow on | Unknown | Axios |
| Limenet | Dec 2025 | Ocean alkalinization and CO2-free lime production storing CO2 as calcium bicarbonate. | CO2 Storage Services | Unknown | $8.2M | Europe | Follow on | CDP Venture Capital | Carbon Herald |
| Vycarb | Oct 2025 | Water-based CCS that stores CO2 as dissolved bicarbonate or carbonate in natural waters. | CO2 Storage Services | Seed | $5M | North America | First financing | Idemitsu; SGInnovate; MOL Switch | ESG Today |
| Brineworks | Sep 2025 | Direct air capture plus hydrogen co-production for e-fuels and e-methanol. | Direct Air Capture | Seed | $5.85M | Europe | First financing | Pale Blue Dot; AiiM Partners | Tech.eu |
| DACLab | Sep 2025 | Modular low-energy direct air capture units for e-fuels and CO2 sequestration operators. | Direct Air Capture | Seed | $3M | North America | First financing | None institutional; Dave Roux and Peter Relan notable angels | PR Newswire |
| Equatic | Aug 2025 | Seawater electrolysis for atmospheric carbon removal and green hydrogen co-production. | CO2 Storage Services | Series A | $11.6M | North America | Follow on | Temasek Trust ecosystem/C3H | Equatic |
| Climeworks | Jul 2025 | Direct air capture plants and carbon removal portfolios with permanent storage. | Direct Air Capture | Series D+ | $162M | Europe | Follow on | Partners Group | Climeworks |
| Aircapture | Jun 2025 | Modular on-site DAC machines producing high-purity CO2 for industrial customers. | Direct Air Capture | Series A | $50M | North America | Follow on | None obvious | ESG Today |
| Alt Carbon | May 2025 | Enhanced rock weathering for durable carbon removal in soils and oceans. | CO2 Storage Services | Seed | $12M | Asia-Pacific | First financing | None confirmed from retrieved excerpt | ESG Today |
| Exterra Carbon Solutions | May 2025 | Mineral processing platform that permanently mineralizes CO2 using low-carbon oxides from mining residues. | CO2 Storage Services | Series A | $14.5M | North America | Follow on | Clean Energy Ventures; BDC Capital; MOL Switch | Exterra |
| RepAir Carbon | Apr 2025 | Electromechanical carbon capture for DAC and industrial diluted emissions. | Carbon Capture Systems | Series A | $15M | Middle East | Follow on | Repsol; Extantia Capital | ESG Today |
| Homeostasis | Mar 2025 | Captures CO2 and converts it into graphite. | CO2 Utilization Platforms | Seed | $0.6M | North America | First financing | None disclosed | GeekWire |
| Capture6 | Mar 2025 | Brine-based carbon removal and mineralization integrated with water treatment. | CO2 Storage Services | Series A | $27.5M | North America | Follow on | Hyundai/ZER01NE; Elemental Impact; Third Derivative | PR Newswire |
| Spiritus | Mar 2025 | Passive direct air capture using proprietary sorbents and Carbon Orchard DAC+S systems. | Direct Air Capture | Series A | $30M | North America | Follow on | Khosla Ventures; Aramco Ventures; Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America; TDK Ventures | Business Wire |
| CarbonQuest | Feb 2025 | Distributed carbon capture for buildings, boilers, fuel cells, and smaller industrial sources. | Carbon Capture Systems | Series A | $20M | North America | Follow on | None obvious | GeekWire |
| Mitico | Feb 2025 | Industrial point-source carbon capture using granulated metal carbonate sorption. | Carbon Capture Systems | Seed | $4.3M | North America | First financing | SOSV; Halliburton Labs; AP Ventures | Business Wire |
| Twelve | Feb 2025 | Converts captured CO2 into fuels, chemicals, and materials, including E-Jet SAF. | CO2 Utilization Platforms | Series C | $83M | North America | Follow on | Amazon Climate Pledge Fund; TPG; Mitsui; SMBC; DCVC | ESG Today |
| 44.01 | Feb 2025 | Permanent CO2 mineralization in mafic and ultramafic rock. | CO2 Storage Services | Series A | $5M | Middle East | Follow on | None obvious | Carbon Herald |
| Origen | Jan 2025 | Limestone-based direct air capture and carbon removal. | Direct Air Capture | Series A | $13M | Europe | Follow on | Shell Ventures; Barclays Climate Ventures | PR Newswire |
| Heirloom | Dec 2024 | Direct air capture technology based on limestone mineralization chemistry. | Direct Air Capture | Series B | $150M | North America | Follow on | Lowercarbon Capital; Mitsubishi Corporation; Mitsui & Co.; Japan Airlines | Business Wire |
| 44.01 | Dec 2024 | CO2 mineralization technology that permanently stores captured CO2 as rock. | CO2 Storage Services | Series A | $5M | Middle East | Follow on | Nysnø Climate Investments | Carbon Herald |
| Vaulted Deep | Nov 2024 | Biomass carbon removal and storage through deep geologic injection of carbon-rich organic waste. | CO2 Storage Services | Series A | $32.3M | North America | Follow on | Prelude Ventures; Lowercarbon Capital | PR Newswire |
| Carbon Ridge | Oct 2024 | Onboard carbon capture and storage systems for maritime vessels. | Carbon Capture Systems | Unknown | $9.5M | North America | Follow on | None clearly tier-1 | Carbon Herald |
| Octavia Carbon | Oct 2024 | Kenyan direct air capture company using geothermal resources and waste heat to remove CO2. | Direct Air Capture | Seed | $3.9M | Africa | First financing | None clearly tier-1 | TechCabal |
| Aerleum | Oct 2024 | Captures and converts CO2 into synthetic fuel and chemicals using hydrogen and proprietary materials. | CO2 Utilization Platforms | Seed | $6M | Europe | First financing | HTGF; Bpifrance; Norrsken | HTGF |
| Paebbl | Oct 2024 | Converts captured CO2 into carbon-storing construction materials. | CO2 Utilization Platforms | Series A | $25M | Europe | Follow on | Amazon Climate Pledge Fund; Holcim | Paebbl |
| Planetary Technologies | Sep 2024 | Ocean alkalinity enhancement and ocean-based carbon removal and storage. | CO2 Storage Services | Series A | $11.35M | North America | Follow on | BDC Capital; Iconiq Capital | Planetary Technologies |
| Phlair | Sep 2024 | Hydrolyzer-based direct air capture technology designed for scalable low-cost CO2 capture. | Direct Air Capture | Seed | $13.3M | Europe | Follow on | Extantia Capital; Planet A | EU-Startups |
| Mantel Capture | Sep 2024 | Molten-borate carbon capture technology for heavy industrial point-source emissions. | Carbon Capture Systems | Series A | $30M | North America | Follow on | Shell Ventures; Eni Next; bp Ventures; Vale Ventures | Mantel Capture |
| Carbyon | Sep 2024 | Fast-swing direct air capture technology designed to reduce energy and project cost. | Direct Air Capture | Series A | $16.9M | Europe | Follow on | Lowercarbon Capital; Siemens Financial Services | Carbyon |
| Again | Jul 2024 | Uses captured CO2, hydrogen, and fermentation to produce green chemicals for industrial use. | CO2 Utilization Platforms | Series A | $43.1M | Europe | Follow on | GV; HV Capital | Carbon Herald |
| 44.01 | Jul 2024 | CO2 mineralization technology that turns captured CO2 into rock. | CO2 Storage Services | Series A | $37M | Middle East | Follow on | Equinor Ventures; Amazon Climate Pledge Fund; Siemens Financial Services; Sumitomo Corporation | ESG Today |
| Fugu Carbon | Jul 2024 | Solid direct air capture technology for low-cost CO2 removal. | Direct Air Capture | Seed | $1.67M | Asia-Pacific | First financing | None clearly tier-1 | Startup Daily |
| Captura | Apr 2024 | Direct ocean capture technology that extracts CO2 from seawater for storage or utilization. | Direct Air Capture | Series A | $11.8M | North America | Follow on | Japan Airlines Innovation Fund; National Grid Partners | Wall Street Journal |
| Mission Zero Technologies | Mar 2024 | Modular electrochemical direct air capture technology for distributed CO2 removal. | Direct Air Capture | Series A | $27.7M | Europe | Follow on | Breakthrough Energy Ventures; Siemens Financial Services; Fortescue | Mission Zero Technologies |
| CarbonCapture Inc. | Mar 2024 | Modular direct air capture systems designed for manufactured deployment. | Direct Air Capture | Series A | $80M | North America | Follow on | Amazon Climate Pledge Fund; Aramco Ventures; Siemens Financial Services; Prime Movers Lab | CarbonCapture |
| CarbonBlue | Mar 2024 | Water-based CO2 removal technology that can integrate with water-using industrial infrastructure. | Direct Air Capture | Seed | $10M | Asia-Pacific | First financing | ENGIE New Ventures | ESG Today |
| Avnos | Feb 2024 | Hybrid direct air capture technology that captures CO2 and produces water. | Direct Air Capture | Series A | $36M | North America | Follow on | Shell Ventures; NextEra Energy Resources; Safran Corporate Ventures | Business Wire |
| Captura | Jan 2024 | Direct ocean capture technology that removes CO2 from seawater, enabling the ocean to absorb more atmospheric CO2. | Direct Air Capture | Series A | $21.5M | North America | Follow on | Aramco Ventures; Eni Next | Carbon Herald |
INSIGHTS
The insights below come from reviewing every disclosed equity round in the CCUS market between January 2024 and May 2026, including the 2024 full-year file, the 2025 full-year file, and the 2026 year-to-date file.
- The CCUS market is not shrinking in attention; it is shrinking in check size. Year-to-date 2026 deal count is higher than over the comparable 2025 period, but total capital, average round size, and median round size are all lower. That combination should be read as experimentation, not acceleration.
- The median round is the most honest measure of current CCUS funding conditions. Median round size fell from about $19M in 2024 to about $13M in 2025 and then to about $6M so far in 2026. Headline totals can move sharply without the typical company becoming better funded.
- Headline funding totals are a poor proxy for CCUS market health. The largest one to three rounds explain too much of annual funding for total capital to be read without concentration metrics. A serious market read needs both total capital and top-deal-adjusted capital.
- The shift from DAC-led funding to utilization-led funding is the most important current market change. In 2024, DAC had 65% of capital; so far in 2026, standalone DAC has no qualifying deal, while utilization has 83% of capital. That is a category rotation, not a minor fluctuation.
- The CCUS market is increasingly rewarding business models with non-carbon revenue logic. Fuels, materials, construction inputs, chemicals, and industrial feedstocks are receiving more attention than pure capture or storage infrastructure. The real signal is that CO2 needs to be attached to a customer market.
- Carbon-credit-only logic appears insufficient for venture-scale conviction. Stronger rounds tend to include product demand, strategic investors, offtake signals, industrial integration, or a clear deployment pathway. The practical diligence question is no longer just whether the carbon pathway works, but who pays for it and why.
- The 2025 late-stage signal was real but narrow. More than half of 2025 capital was late-stage, but that was mainly because of Climeworks and Twelve rather than a broad cohort of growth-stage CCUS companies. The market looked more mature in dollars than it did in deal breadth.
- The absence of Series B+ rounds so far in 2026 is a major warning sign. The CCUS market may be active, but it is not currently showing a normal graduation path into late-stage venture financing. That makes the current period feel commercially busy but financially immature.
- Unknown-stage rounds are a structural feature of the CCUS market, not just bad labeling. Many financings sit between venture equity, strategic capital, and project-adjacent commercialization. Analysts should treat unknown-stage rounds as a meaningful category, not as missing metadata.
- First financings consistently over-index by deal count and under-index by dollars. Across 2024, 2025, and 2026 so far, new entrants appear, but they receive only a small share of total capital. The market is open to new ideas, but skeptical of unvalidated scale claims.
- Repeat investor activity has weakened. The move from several repeat investors in 2024 to none so far in 2026 suggests the investor base is less coordinated and less thesis-driven in the current period. That matters because repeat investors often define what credible technical and commercial validation looks like.
- Strategic investors are more important in CCUS than in many software markets. Industrial investors can validate deployment, offtake, supply chains, permitting relevance, and customer demand in ways that generic financial investors cannot. A strategic logo should often carry more weight than a larger but less relevant syndicate.
- CO2 transport and conditioning remain conspicuously absent from venture equity. That suggests midstream CCUS infrastructure is more likely to be financed through project finance, industrial balance sheets, or public infrastructure programs than startup equity. Their absence is a financing-structure signal, not necessarily a demand signal.
- Point-source carbon capture has not converted its intuitive industrial logic into current venture momentum. Carbon Capture Systems had activity in 2024 and 2025 but no qualifying deal so far in 2026. The category still needs clearer proof that venture-backed companies can scale faster than industrial incumbents or project-financed alternatives.
- Storage is gaining breadth but not capital dominance. Storage led 2025 deal count, but its average and median round sizes remained well below the largest DAC and utilization financings. Investors seem interested in storage pathways, but they are not yet underwriting storage as the main capital sink.
- Ocean and water-linked storage pathways are becoming a recurring storage wedge. Gigablue, pHathom, Equatic, Vycarb, and related companies suggest investors like storage when it uses existing natural or industrial fluid systems. That gives storage a practical deployment context rather than a purely abstract permanence claim.
- Carbon-to-construction is one of the clearest repeated formation areas. Carbonaide, Co-reactive, sequestra, Carbonyx, Paebbl, and similar companies show that mineralization plus construction inputs is a durable startup theme. The attraction is obvious: large product markets, physical carbon storage, and industrial customers already exist.
- The fuel pathway is re-emerging as a major utilization thesis. Lydian, Sora Fuel, Rivan, Twelve, and Brineworks show that investors continue to see aviation fuel, synthetic fuel, and e-fuels as large enough product markets to justify CCUS exposure. The challenge is proving economics without relying on perfect policy conditions.
- Europe’s 2026 momentum looks healthier than its 2025 capital share because it is less dependent on one giant round. European 2026 activity spans several companies and several utilization pathways. That makes the regional signal broader, even if the absolute dollar total is still modest.
- North America remains the largest region but is less dominant than before. Its year-to-date 2026 share is balanced rather than overwhelming, which suggests the CCUS market is becoming more transatlantic. That is a meaningful shift, but not the same as true global distribution.
- The CCUS market’s bottleneck is no longer idea supply. The number of small rounds and subcategory diversity suggest plenty of experimentation. The bottleneck is converting experiments into financeable scale.
- The strongest forecasting rule is to weight validation over category hype. Companies with product demand, strategic investors, offtake signals, and measurable carbon pathways deserve more weight than companies with only theoretical cost claims. In CCUS, credibility compounds when technical and commercial proof appear together.
- The strongest overall conclusion is that the CCUS market is not dead, not mature, and not broadly scaling. The CCUS market is rotating away from standalone capture narratives, toward product-linked utilization, and toward smaller, more evidence-sensitive financing rounds.
This chart, included in our CCUS market deck, shows how carbon removal marketplace technology has evolved over time
OUR METHODOLOGY TO BUILD THIS TRACKER
We built this CCUS funding tracker by reviewing every publicly disclosed equity round raised by pure-play CCUS companies between January 2024 and May 2026. A company counts as pure-play when more than 80% of its activity is dedicated to carbon capture, direct air capture, CO2 utilization, CO2 storage, CO2 conditioning, or CO2 transport infrastructure.
We applied four filters to build the dataset. First, we only included equity rounds, so grants, debt, structured financings, project finance, acquisitions, SPAC transactions, and business combinations are excluded unless the source clearly identified the relevant component as equity. Second, we only counted disclosed rounds of $300K or more. Third, we only kept pure-play CCUS companies, which means we excluded broader industrial decarbonization, carbon-credit, biochar-only, forestry, soil-carbon, certification, and non-CCUS climate platforms. And fourth, every entry had to be confirmed by a direct company announcement, a press release, a tier-1 media report, a specialized industry source, or a relevant regional publication.
Undisclosed-amount rounds are excluded because including them would distort dollar-based metrics such as average round size, median round size, capital share, concentration, and category totals. Known undisclosed or non-qualifying cases were reviewed separately, but they are not included in the quantitative dataset unless a public source disclosed enough information to verify the $300K threshold and deal size.
The final dataset contains 20 qualifying disclosed deals in 2024, 18 qualifying disclosed deals in 2025, and 12 qualifying disclosed deals in year-to-date 2026. Every average, median, share, concentration ratio, category split, stage split, and regional split is computed on that disclosed sample. Privately raised rounds that were never publicly announced are necessarily missing, which is a known limitation of any public-only CCUS funding tracker.
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- How funding activity has evolved in the CCUS market
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