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Carbon Upcycling Technologies has secured up to $10 million (all figures US) in financing from San Francisco-based ATEL Ventures to support the development of its key project in the Ash Grove Mississauga Cement Plant.
The Calgary-based company is building a carbon capture system at the facility designed to ingest carbon dioxide from the cement kiln and expose it to industrial wastes. The wastes will then be converted to a low-carbon supplementary cementitious material (SCM), a cement substitute, helping to reduce the sector's climate impact.
“Our partnership with ATEL signals Carbon Upcycling’s technology is entering a new phase of commercial readiness,” Suzy Taherian, CFO of Carbon Upcycling, said in the Thursday morning announcement.
“This agreement aligns the right financing with the right assets, helping us advance our first commercial project while laying the groundwork for repeatable growth.”
The financing is secured by Carbon Upcycling’s assets, and ATEL has the option to make a future investment in Carbon Upcycling.
A "breakthrough technology"
The Mississauga cement factory is one of Ash Grove’s largest in Canada, producing over one million tonnes of the concrete ingredient per year.
When its project is operational — expected in the second half of 2026 — Carbon Upcycling anticipates it will have the capacity to produce up to 30,000 tonnes of SCMs per year. The company expects the output to support Ontario’s construction supply chains.
“Carbon Upcycling exemplifies the kind of breakthrough technology we seek to support in venture-backed companies,” Sam Cash, vice president and director at ATEL, said in the release.
ATEL, a venture investment firm and part of ATEL Capital Group, has backed 180 startups across a range of sectors such as sustainability, digital technologies, industry and life sciences. Its portfolio of investments includes Canadian company Mangrove Lithium, plant-based food maker Just Food Company and micromobility firm Lime.
The latest investment builds on the tens of millions of dollars Carbon Upcycling has raised in the past – a $26-million Series A in 2023 and an $18-million investment in 2025 led by Builders Vision.
Carbon Upcycling looks globally
In an interview with Sustainable Biz Canada earlier this year, Carbon Upcycling’s CEO Markus Kritzler outlined his plans for the company after its Mississauga project.
Italy is next on its list. Carbon Upcycling has designs for a demonstration project in the country planned to produce 5,000 to 10,000 tonnes of SCMs per year. It is expected to begin operations in mid-2026.
The company then looks to move on to two projects in the U.S. and one in Europe. The three facilities are planned to be larger than their Mississauga counterpart, outputting 250,000 to 300,000 tonnes of SCMs per year. Construction is expected to start in late 2026 to early 2027, Kritzler said.
Carbon Upcycling is also keen on developing projects in Asia and South America.
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