Kalz Logo (Copyright: Kalz)
10
Sep
current, Projects

Kalz

Posted on by Katharina Heilmaier
Growth Capital for Kalz

The CO₂-storing answer to cement’s shrinking raw material supply 

Societal Challenge

Cement production accounts for around 8% of global CO₂ emissions, driven above all by its clinker-intensive manufacturing process. The materials that have so far replaced clinker, blast-furnace slag and fly ash from the steel and coal industries, are disappearing as those industries decarbonise: around 70% of Europe’s reactive supply of Supplementary Cementitious Materials (SCM) is projected to vanish by 2035, just as demand for SCM and filler keeps rising. Today’s CO2 storage methods such as pipeline CCS cost 150 to 300 € per tonne, barely affordable for industry. At the same time, European industry needs durable CO₂ storage at a scale that today’s methods cannot deliver affordably. Kalz addresses the European market for SCM and filler, which McKinsey expects to be worth 8 to 10 billion € by 2035.

Solution

Kalz turns CO₂ and mineral residues into cement-replacing building materials and permanently stores the CO₂ in the process. The plant operates directly at the emitter’s site and at low pressure, rather than relying on the high-pressure compression and long-distance transport that pipeline CCS and other mineralization approaches typically require. The CO₂ never has to be moved, and the feedstock needs no purification. The result is a drop-in cement replacement, SCM, filler and aggregates, cost-competitive with existing alternatives at industrial scale, at about half the price of premium alternatives . For the emitter, CO₂ stops being a cost and becomes a revenue line.
Kalz Team (Copyright: Kalz)

The team behind Kalz

Kalz was founded in 2026 by Dr. Till Strunge (CEO), Dr. Dario Kremer (CTO), and Dr. Jason Collis (CRO) in Berlin, growing out of years of research on CO₂ mineralization at TU Berlin. All three hold PhDs in engineering and bring complementary expertise: Strunge in Industrial Engineering, including a previously exited IoT startup, Kremer in Mineral Resources Engineering with experience in the mining and cement industries, Collis in Chemical Engineering with experience in industrial plant design. The team has already been recognized several times for its work, including as one of the “Top 100 Science Start-ups” by the Falling Walls Foundation and as winner of the Tomorrow Accelerator by the Berlin Innovation Agency.

Curious? Reach out to Kai Wagner for more information about this impact investment opportunity.