VERDOX

Verdox came out of MIT's lab of Yet-Ming Chiang, one of the world's foremost battery and materials scientists. Chiang had previously co-founded A123 Systems — which commercialized lithium iron phosphate batteries and was sold to a Chinese company for $257 million after bankruptcy — and 24M Technologies, a next-gen battery company.

He kept working on electrochemical systems and became interested in applying electrochemistry to carbon capture. Traditional industrial carbon capture uses amine solvents that grab CO2 from flue gas, then heat is applied to release the CO2 and regenerate the solvent.

The heating step requires massive energy inputs — and usually fossil fuels, which somewhat defeats the point. Chiang and his team found an electrochemical approach: use electricity to drive the CO2-binding chemistry.

This lets the process run on renewable power. He co-founded Verdox in 2019 with Brian Baynes to commercialize the technology.

The company raised $80 million in a 2022 Series A to build its first pilot systems.

Verdox plans to sell carbon capture as a service to heavy industrial emitters — steel mills, cement plants, chemical factories, power plants — who face regulatory pressure to reduce emissions but cannot simply switch to solar panels. These industries emit CO2 as a byproduct of their core chemistry, not just their energy use.

Verdox installs its electrochemical capture systems, captures the CO2, and either stores it (for carbon credits or regulatory compliance) or supplies it as a product to industrial buyers who need CO2 (food and beverage industry, enhanced oil recovery, chemical manufacturing). Revenue comes from equipment sales, installation, and long-term service contracts.

Carbon credit revenue is a secondary but potentially significant stream.

Verdox's core product is its electrochemical carbon capture system — modular units that can be attached to industrial exhaust streams and powered by renewable electricity. The system uses a proprietary electrochemical process to selectively bind and then release CO2, producing a concentrated stream of carbon dioxide suitable for storage or industrial use.

The company is developing both point-source capture (directly from factory chimneys) and is researching direct air capture applications. Commercial products are in the pilot phase as of 2024, with first installations targeting US and European industrial sites.

Verdox's strategy is to start with the highest-value, most tractable industrial emitters — sites where flue gas CO2 concentrations are high enough that capture is economically feasible even with today's costs — and build the reference installations needed to prove commercial viability. Every working installation is a proof point that makes the next one easier to finance.

They are also targeting markets where carbon pricing is already significant: the EU Emissions Trading System, UK carbon markets, and US Inflation Reduction Act tax credits (45Q), which pay up to $180 per tonne of CO2 captured and stored. Those incentives dramatically change the economics of industrial carbon capture.

Cost and scale. Industrial carbon capture has been technically possible for decades — the problem is always the cost.

Traditional amine scrubbing systems cost $50-100 per tonne of CO2 to operate, which is hard to justify economically without strong carbon pricing. Verdox claims its electrochemical approach can get costs below $50 and potentially much lower at scale, but those claims are based on laboratory and pilot data, not commercial-scale installations.

Scaling from a lab to a steel mill is where many cleantech companies have failed. The other challenge is that industrial clients take years to sign contracts and even longer to commit capex.

The sales cycle in heavy industry is not like enterprise SaaS — it is measured in years, not months.

Breakthrough Energy Ventures — Bill Gates' climate investment fund — is a lead investor, giving Verdox credibility in the cleantech world and access to BEV's network of industrial partners and policy connections. Prelude Ventures, a San Francisco climate tech specialist, led the Series A.

Energy Impact Partners, which invests on behalf of major utilities, brings strategic value in navigating industrial energy customers. Temasek, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, adds international reach.

The investor mix suggests Verdox is being positioned as a global industrial infrastructure play, not just a US carbon credit arbitrage story.