Carbon Capture, a climate tech company that makes machines to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, said it had raised $35 million in a Series A funding round. With this fresh funding, the company has secured over $43 million in equity funding to date.

Prime Movers Lab led the funding round. Rio Tinto, Idealab Studio, Idealab X, Marc Benioff’s Time Ventures, and several other venture capital companies and family offices participated in the funding round.

The company will use the funds to enhance its product development efforts and initial deployments of its renewable energy-powered (solar and geothermal) Direct Air Capture (DAC) systems in locations across the US.

Carbon Capture also appointed Adrian Corless as Chief Executive Officer of the company.

The company said it had developed a set of technical innovations that use zeolites for capturing carbon dioxide as part of a commercial DAC system. Zeolites are inorganic, inexpensive, long-lasting, and non-toxic molecular sieves. Zeolites are manufactured in large quantities for several industrial applications, removing a significant barrier for the economic scaling of DAC to gigaton levels.

According to the company, these DAC systems are tunable and can be set to capture between 1 and 5 tons of pure water for each ton of carbon dioxide captured from the air. In addition, DAC systems can decline carbon dioxide output purity to align with storage strategies that do not require food-grade purity, such as injection into building materials, mine tailings, or geologic formations that mineralize carbon dioxide.

Corless said, “I am excited about the opportunity to lead Carbon Capture. This funding, in combination with our transformative technology and top-tier commercial partners, provides us with all of the necessary ingredients to quickly become the leading DAC company in the US.”

Commenting on the investment, Brandon Simmons, general partner at Prime Movers Lab, said, “By 2050, DAC companies will capture upwards of 5 to 10 gigatons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. We are honored to participate in the very early stages of a new $500 billion-plus industry.”

In August 2021, Prime Movers Lab participated in Energy Vault’s Series C funding round. Energy Vault raised $100 million in Series C funding.