Amsterdam-based ClimateTech startup Brineworks has secured €6.8 million in new funding to accelerate commercialisation of its ultra-low-cost Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology.
The round was led by SeaX Ventures, with participation from Pale Blue Dot, First Momentum, AiiM Partners, Energie360°, and Katapult. Brineworks was also awarded a €1.8 million grant in February from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator, to further advance R&D and pilot deployment.
“It’s clear where the world is heading,” said Gudfinnur Sveinsson, CEO of Brineworks. “Renewable energy is becoming cheaper faster than anyone predicted. The bottleneck now is technology that can use this power flexibly and affordably. That’s exactly what we’ve built – an electrolyzer that runs when the sun shines or the wind blows, and pauses when it doesn’t. We’re unlocking a dream that’s been out of reach for decades.”
Brineworks is a ClimateTech company developing breakthrough Direct Air Capture and hydrogen co-production technologies to unlock affordable e-Fuel production.
The company was founded in 2023 by Gudfinnur Sveinsson, a Columbia University graduate with a background in climate policy and innovation, and Dr Joseph Perryman, an electrochemist who completed his postdoctoral research at Stanford University. By combining expertise in technology and policy, Brineworks looks to build scalable solutions to decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors like aviation and maritime.
Brineworks’ patented electrolyzer is reportedly the first to run flexibly on renewables – turning on when the sun shines or wind blows, and pausing when it doesn’t – without degrading performance.
“We envisioned the electrolyzer of the future – and now it’s here,” said Dr Joseph Perryman, Co-founder and CTO of Brineworks. “With many long nights of work, we’ve proven a clear path to capturing CO₂ directly from air at below $100 per ton. That’s the threshold the world has been waiting for, and now the scale-up begins.”
At the heart of Brineworks’ breakthrough is a patented electrolyzer that drives ultra low-cost DAC while co-producing significant amounts of hydrogen. Together, these two outputs provide the critical building blocks for sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) and e-methanol for shipping – industries urgently in need of scalable, carbon-neutral alternatives.
According to data provided by Brinework, aviation alone accounts for 2.5% of global CO₂ emissions – and demand is still rising – while shipping contributes over 3%. Without breakthroughs like Brineworks’, these sectors have no clear path to decarbonisation.
Unlike conventional systems, Brineworks’ electrolyzer is designed for intermittent operation, enabling it to follow renewable power availability without degrading performance. This capability solves a long-standing technical challenge: how to make DAC work reliably with low-cost materials in a renewable-powered grid.
“At SeaX, we’re always looking for visionary Founders solving massive problems with science-backed solutions, and Brineworks is exactly that,” said Dr Kid Parchariyanon, Founder and Managing Partner at SeaX Ventures.
He added: “Their team is rethinking how we tackle carbon removal and clean fuel from the ground up, with an approach that’s as ambitious as it is necessary. This investment marks an inflection point for Brineworks, and we believe they have the potential to meaningfully reduce global emissions. Supporting them aligns directly with our goal of helping to cut 1% of the world’s carbon footprint – we’re proud to be part of their journey.”
By coupling Brineworks’ DAC system with e-fuel synthesis technologies, any nation can now allegedly produce its own fuels, provided it scales renewable capacity. This opens the door to energy independence, emissions reduction, and localised fuel production – a decentralised model for the global energy transition.
The new funding will be used to scale the system to pilot level, targeting commercial readiness by the end of 2026. If Brineworks hits its targets, the company says airlines could be flying on carbon-neutral fuels before the decade is out.