Vycarb, a climate tech company pioneering a new category of permanent, measurable carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) using natural waters, announced Monday the closing of a $5M seed funding round.

The round was led by Twynam, with participation from MOL Switch, Hatch Blue, Clocktower Ventures, Idemitsu, and SGInnovate, Vycarb said in a statement.

The funding will enable the company to accelerate the commercialization of its novel water-based carbon storage technology.

“Vycarb’s approach aligns with SGInnovate’s mission to back innovative companies turning research into tangible solutions,

“With global demand for deployable, measurable carbon capture and storage technologies and Singapore’s goal of reaching net zero emissions, we are proud to support the Vycarb team as they scale their impact worldwide,” said Hsien-Hui Tong, Executive Director – Investments, SGInnovate.

Vycarb’s approach unlocks a new paradigm for industrial decarbonization, enabling distributed carbon dioxide (CO2) storage directly at the source, without the need for expensive purification, compression, or long-distance transport.

Its system takes CO2 from a range of sources, converting it into dissolved bicarbonate in natural waters, a stable and naturally abundant form of carbon storage, using readily available minerals.

This process permanently sequesters carbon for 10-100,000+ years and reduces acidification in surrounding waters.

Critically, Vycarb’s sensor-driven approach allows for real-time, in situ measurement of carbon capture, removal, and storage, meeting emerging standards for high-integrity carbon offset markets and helping close a key gap in the global decarbonization chain.

The Vycarb system can be integrated into bioenergy facilities, power plants, cement and steel facilities, and coastal ports, turning water infrastructure into a climate solution.

“Our mission is to make carbon capture and storage permanent, fully measurable, and scalable to address the urgency of the climate crisis,

“This investment enables us to further build our expert team and expand deployments at more sites worldwide, particularly where traditional carbon storage solutions are too expensive or infrastructure-intensive to be practical,” said Dr. Garrett Boudinot, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Vycarb.

It is noted that Vycarb has already demonstrated its system in multiple field pilots, including a major deployment at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York City, where the company is permanently capturing and storing CO2 on the East River.

Working with partners including at depth, a leader in marine monitoring and verification, and TOMCO, an industry leader in CO2 management and utilization systems, Vycarb is proving its ability to cost-effectively store low-concentration CO2 emissions on-site using coastal or industrial waters.

“Decarbonizing industry at scale demands bold solutions and that’s exactly what Vycarb delivers,

“Their system is elegant, effective, and deeply aligned with our vision to remove and permanently store CO₂ at breakthrough unit economics,” said Johnny Kahlbetzer, Chief Executive Officer and Chair at Twynam.

Meanwhile, Tomoaki Ichida, Chief Executive Officer of MOL Switch, said MOL is exploring every possible avenue to achieve decarbonization across the maritime sectors.

“With global regulations such as those from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and European Union (EU) becoming increasingly stringent, Vycarb’s distributed carbon capture and storage technology could play a key role in enabling the shipping industry to directly mitigate emissions with minimal infrastructure,

“We are proud to back a company building real-world climate solutions from the ground—and water—up,” he added.

Ambika Rustagi, Corporate Venturing & CDR Associate, Idemitsu Americas Holdings, also said Vycarb’s ability to monitor and optimize carbon capture data in real-time combines the benefits of a closed-system technology with the flexibility to deploy in open-system bodies of water.

“Idemitsu is excited to support Vycarb’s development and scale-up of a low cost technology that will enable the carbon neutral future we are working toward,” she added.

The company has sold high-integrity carbon capture credits to leading buyers such as Stripe and Milkywire, and is a semifinalist in the U.S. Department of Energy’s landmark CDR purchase program.

In parallel, Vycarb received early investment from industry leaders like Rio Tinto and BluescopeX to support deployment at heavy-emitting facilities.

“Decarbonization is both an urgent challenge and a massive opportunity being pursued in major economies around the globe, but it requires technologies that are flexible, low-cost, and highly scalable in order to meet the needs of diverse markets, geographies, sectors,

“Vycarb’s solution offers the adaptability major industrial producers need across key sectors and the permanence and measurability needed to combat climate change,” said Josh Zoffer, Regeneration & Resilience Fund Lead at Clocktower Ventures.

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