CHARM INDUSTRIAL

Peter Reinhardt sold Segment, the customer data platform he co-founded, to Twilio for $3.2 billion in 2020. Instead of retiring or starting another SaaS company, he founded Charm Industrial to work on carbon removal.

His insight was that bio-oil injection was the fastest, cheapest path to permanent carbon removal at scale. Agricultural waste (which would otherwise decompose and release its carbon back into the atmosphere) is converted to bio-oil via fast pyrolysis, then injected into deep geological formations (like depleted oil wells) where the carbon is locked away for thousands of years.

Charm delivered some of the first permanent carbon removal tons ever sold, with Stripe being their first customer.

Charm sells permanent carbon removal credits. Companies pay Charm to remove CO2 from the atmosphere by converting biomass to bio-oil and sequestering it underground.

Customers include Stripe (Charm's first customer), Shopify, Microsoft, JPMorgan, and H&M. Revenue comes from forward purchase agreements for future removal tons.

Charm is also exploring revenue from clean hydrogen production, which is a byproduct of the pyrolysis process.

Charm's core product is its bio-oil carbon removal system. Agricultural waste is collected, processed through fast pyrolysis (heating without oxygen) to produce bio-oil, and the bio-oil is injected into deep geological formations.

They also produce clean hydrogen as a byproduct. Their monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) system tracks carbon from biomass to underground storage.

Charm's growth strategy is vertical integration and rapid scaling. They're building their own pyrolysis systems, sourcing their own biomass, and developing their own injection infrastructure.

They're focused on cost reduction through engineering improvements and scale. The key advantage is that the core technology (pyrolysis) is well-understood and has been used in industrial processes for decades — the innovation is applying it to carbon removal.

They're expanding their biomass sourcing network and injection site portfolio.

Scaling fast pyrolysis to the volumes needed for meaningful climate impact is the core challenge. Sourcing enough agricultural waste, building enough pyrolysis units, and securing enough injection sites requires massive capital and operational complexity.

The bio-oil injection approach is also relatively new, and long-term permanence (thousands of years) is projected but not yet proven over long time horizons. Competition from other carbon removal methods and uncertainty about the future of carbon credit markets are additional risks.

Breakthrough Energy Ventures, GIC (Singapore sovereign wealth fund), and DCVC are key investors. Stripe was the first customer and an early backer of the carbon removal ecosystem.

Lowercarbon Capital, Katie Hall, and other climate-focused funds have participated. Reinhardt's credibility from the Segment exit helped attract significant capital early.