Thanks to an innovative fermentation process, COLIPI is achieving a breakthrough in more sustainable alternatives to petroleum and palm oil for a wide range of industrial sectors.
Investors in the seed financing include the High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), the Innovationsstarter Fonds Hamburg (IFH), Nidobirds Ventures GmbH and Stefan De Loecker. The capital will be used to expand the team, test the market together with partner-made products, and scale the technology.
The startup, founded in 2022 by Philipp Arbeiter, Tyll Utesch, Jonas Heuer and Maximilian Weber, is a spin-off from the Technical University of Hamburg. The founders aim to produce millions of tons of climate oil per year from 2039 and displace this amount of CO2 severalfold. The seed financing that has now been completed is another milestone for the young company.
“We firmly believe that our gas fermentation process represents a milestone for bioprocesses, with the huge potential to produce biomaterials such as oils on a mass scale at affordable prices and without environmentally harmful impacts. Climate Oil is intended to become a climate-neutral alternative to palm and petroleum, helping the industry to more easily achieve climate goals by reducing GHG Scope 3 and protecting the environment. We have been in regular contact with Stefan De Loecker, HTGF, Innovationsstarter Fonds Hamburg and Nidobirds since 2021 and are pleased to have found the perfect partners for our next steps,” says Maximilian Webers, co-founder and CEO of COLIPI.
A brewery for oils
COLIPI is, in a sense, a brewery for oils. Carbon is extracted or filtered from the air instead of pumped from the ground. CO2-containing industrial exhaust gases and organic side streams, for example from the agricultural industry, are converted into valuable biomaterials such as climate oil by microorganisms via fermentation. In terms of carbon footprint and impact on biodiversity, the process is more sustainable than petroleum or palm oil. It is made possible by a patented bioprocess, a combination of a specially designed gas fermentation bioreactor and the world’s fastest CO2-consuming bacteria.
Industry partners who offer products such as cosmetics based on Climate Oil will be able to significantly reduce the corporate CO2 footprint.“With their high level of technical expertise in biotechnology and their truly innovative approaches to sustainably solving a major challenge, the COLIPI founders are a prime example of the potential of the bioeconomy,” says Dr. Nik Raupp, Senior Investment Manager at HTGF.
“In addition to direct industrial collaborations, publications, patents and graduates, technology transfer from universities also takes place via startups. Technological solutions, such as those developed by COLIPI, are needed to mitigate climate change. We are pleased that as a start-up university, we were able to found a number of successful startups in green technologies with our Startup Port @ TUHH. We warmly congratulate COLIPI on this further funding and would be happy to accompany you on your further path!” comments Prof. Dr.-Ing. Andreas Timm-Giel, President of the TU Hamburg. .
Further information: colipi.com
