Today, we are very proud to announce the new round of Sirona Technologies, one of the alumni of our Climate Fellowship.
After a pre-seed in 2023, the company is raising €6M for their seed round that we are co-leading with LocalGlobe. The investor lineup also includes Look Up Ventures, Satgana, VOYAGERS Climate-Tech Fund, Syndicate One and Renaud Visage.
Back in 2022, XAnge’s Climate Fellowship Program was launched with one clear goal: empowering entrepreneurs with both financial support and expert guidance, to enable them to transform their visionary ideas into impactful startups. And Sirona is one example of the concretization of this ambition.
Founded in Belgium in 2023 by Thoralf Gutierrez, a former Tesla engineer, Sirona Technologies is a pioneer in the field of Direct Air Capture (DAC). The company’s approach combines rapid innovation and scalability, principles borrowed from Tesla’s successful strategies.
We all know by now that reducing emissions is critical to fighting climate change. But it is equally important to actively remove the vast amounts of CO2 already in the atmosphere… Even with drastic reductions in emissions, we will still need to remove about 1 trillion tons of CO2 already in the atmosphere.
In this context, DAC technology offers a promising solution by capturing CO2 directly from the air and storing it safely underground. The potential of this technology is immense because it offers a scalable and verifiable method of removing CO2. This is not just about offsetting emissions, but is a critical step in reversing the damage already done to our climate.
3 generations of prototypes in just a year
In just one year, Sirona has developed three generations of prototypes capable of capturing 1 ton of CO2 per year. They are now building the next generation to capture 20 times that amount by July. This speed to iterate and scale is exactly what is needed to make DAC a viable solution to climate change.
Since the founders of Sirona Technologies were part of the first cohort of our Climate Fellowship Program, we have been fortunate to witness their extraordinary speed and determination firsthand, from day 1. Thoralf Gutierrez’s background in high-impact projects at Tesla has given him unique insights into the rapid scaling and cost reduction that is essential for the massive deployment of Direct Air Capture technology.
It’s not just about tech…
This deep expertise, combined with a relentless pursuit of technological advancement, has enabled Sirona Technologies to move quickly from concept to prototype and now to full-scale deployment. The company has made remarkable progress in a short period of time and its commitment to cost reduction and rapid scaling is promising.
Last but not least, Sirona Technologies is not just about technology (despite its name). Their pilot project in Kenya is designed to demonstrate the dual benefits of their solution – contributing to climate change mitigation and providing economic benefits to local communities. By increasing the demand for renewable energy, their operations will help reduce electricity costs and support local infrastructure.
To us, the founders of Sirona Technologies epitomize the new generation of climate tech entrepreneurs – deeply technical, hugely ambitious, and moving at startup speed to tackle climate change. They perfectly represent the kind of Climate Tech and Deep Tech projects we want to support and fund – as early as possible: we need more of them!
“We are thrilled to support the growth of Sirona. For XAnge, they represent the new generation of entrepreneurs in the Climate Tech field. What convinced us about Sirona is their ambitious approach to tackling the global challenge of CO2 removal, as well as their remarkable growth over the past twelve months. We are committed to supporting the next wave of European entrepreneurs in Climate Tech with our Climate Fellowship, of which Sirona is a part, aiming to foster the future generation of entrepreneurs focused on climate issues.” Alexis du Peloux, Partner at XAnge.
