Prior to the current financing round, Kalz had already secured €1.3million in public funding to develop the technology and bring it to market maturity. These funds came from the VIP + validation programme of the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR), under which the core process was scientifically validated and further developed to application readiness in the “Seq-Kalz” project at the Technical University (TU) Berlin. With IBB Ventures on board, the company is now moving toward industrial scale:later this year, one of the largest mineralisation and production plants of its kind in Europe is set to go into operation.
CO₂ mineralisation: storage through use in the construction industry
In an accelerated process, industrial, CO₂-rich exhaust gas reacts with mineral residues such as industrial slag or waste-incineration ash – materials that are usually landfilled or only reused in low-grade applications. In doingso, the CO₂ is effectively “turned to stone”; more precisely, as powdery carbonate it is permanently bound and stored in chemical form. At the same time, the reaction upgrades the residue slag or ash used: from a waste product, a stable, carbonated material is created that can replace emission-intensivecomponents in cement and concrete. It is the CO₂ that makes the residue usable for the cement industry in the first place. In this way, Kalz combines the permanent storage of CO₂ with the production of sustainable building materials that the construction industry can use directly, achieving a twofold effect:the carbon dioxide no longer enters the atmosphere but is stored over the long term, while at the same time providing a genuine alternative to conventional,emission-intensive cement and concrete.
“In our collaboration with partners from industry and research, it is becomingclear that wherever CO₂ is generated in industrial processes, the need for practical ways to manage those emissions is growing. That's exactly what our technology addresses — and it does two things at once: we capture CO₂ permanently and turn it into building materials that can stand in for themost emission-heavy ingredients in cement and concrete, ready for industry touse right away. With IBB Ventures now backing this approach, we have the foundation to bring it to industrial scale.”
— Till Strunge, CEO, Kalz GmbH
“Kalz impresses us with a team that is tackling one of the most pressing challenges of our time, both technologically and entrepreneurially. Permanently binding CO₂ in building materials holds enormous potential to scale, whilecreating value from several sources at once: the storage of CO₂, the upgradingof industrial residues, and the global building-materials market. This makesthe business model both robust and adaptable. The new plant in Berlin is onlythe beginning, and we're delighted to support Kalz on this path through B#.”
— Stephan Schulze, Investment Director, IBB Ventures
About Kalz
Kalz GmbH is a Berlin-based deep-tech company that has emerged from years of research into CO₂ mineralisation. It was founded by three scientists – Dr. Till Strunge(CEO), Dr. Dario Kremer (CTO) and Dr. Jason Collis (CRO) – building on the core process they validated scientifically in the federally funded"Seq-Kalz" project. Kalz transforms CO₂ and industrial residues into durable, cement-based building materials, locking the carbon away permanently in the process. In this way, the company links the long-term removal of CO₂ with the decarbonisation of the construction sector, with the goal of bringing mineralisation to industrial scale. Kalz has received several awards for itsapproach: as one of the “Top 100 Science Start-ups to Watch” of the Falling Walls Foundation (2026), as winner of the Tomorrow Accelerator of the BerlinInnovation Agency, and as a finalist of MassChallenge.
About IBB Ventures and B#
Through its pre-seed fund B# – “be sharp” – IBB Ventures is investing a total of €10 million in deep-tech ventures during the particularly challenging early phase. With ticket sizes between €100,000 and €400,000, the fund is aimed specifically at teams with scalable and innovative deep-tech approaches such as AI, quantum technologies, industrial software solutions, robotics,environmentally and resource-friendly technologies as well as biotechnologies,including innovative processes for medicine, health and sustainability. Because returns from exits are reinvested, the result is a model that lastingly strengthens the innovative power of Berlin’s deep-tech sector. B# is financedfrom European Union funds under the ERDF programme STEP (Strategic Technologies for Europe).
Press contact
Stephan Schulze
IBB Ventures
Bundesallee 210
10719 Berlin
Tel: +49 (0)30 2125 3201
Email: info@ibbventures.de
