Concretene has secured 拢3 million in venture capital investment to bring its聽 graphene-enhanced concrete admixture to market.
The nanomaterial technology firm based in Manchester aims to decarbonise the concrete industry.
Tech-focused VC fund Molten Ventures leads the Seed+ investment round, while LocalGlobe – a leading funder of tech unicorns across Europe, whose seed investment enabled the building of Concretene鈥檚 core team in 2023 – has further committed itself to the project.聽
The investment will fund the development of the Concretene product and take the business through certification and onto upscale revenue.
Alongside its new investors, Concretene is working with leading UK pre-cast manufacturer Roger Bullivant and global cement giant Cemex on specific formulations for low-carbon CEM II/III cements. This work is supported by 拢1.2m in grant-funding from Innovate UK, secured in 2023.
Concretene鈥檚 scientists are also working with concrete specialists from Arup, the world-renowned engineering consultancy, on an extensive material testing programme. This will generate a comprehensive dataset to support material performance and the accreditation of Concretene as a concrete admixture.
Concretene was founded by civil engineers Rob Hibberd and Alex McDermott, who worked with The University of Manchester鈥檚 Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC) to develop the prototype formulation.聽
This prototype delivered compressive strength uplifts of 25-30% in the lab and an average of 17% in three field trials. Dependent on application, this performance enables reduction of CO2 emissions from concrete by around 10-15%.
The founders then hired an experienced team 鈥� including former GEIC scientist and Concretene co-inventor Dr Craig Dawson 鈥� to develop the product for commercial roll-out.
Reliable and scalable supply chain partners are critical for commercial viability and the business has refocused the product on feedstocks with sustainable credentials. The 鈥楪en 2鈥� product incorporates graphene materials produced as waste streams by the energy industry.
Concretene was the first tenant of Manchester鈥檚 new innovation district, currently being developed by Bruntwood SciTech. Formerly known as ID Manchester, the 拢1.7bn development is situated across 22 acres of the former north campus of the University and was recently launched with its new branding as 鈥楽ister鈥� by Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham.
鈥淲e鈥檙e delighted to welcome Molten Ventures to join with us and LocalGlobe on our mission to decarbonise concrete. We also want to thank LocalGlobe for their enthusiasm and support in getting Concretene off the ground,鈥� said Concretene COO Mike Harrison.
鈥淥ur team in Manchester has a unique combination of expertise and experience across construction and nanomaterial science, which will enable us to deliver our next stage of development and earn industry confidence and certification.
鈥淲ith the support of our funders and strategic partners Arup and Black Swan Graphene, we鈥檙e now well-placed to move forward rapidly to commercialisation.鈥�
George Chalmers, head of climate at Molten Ventures, said: 鈥淐oncretene has made tremendous strides in getting its technology out of the lab and into meaningful real-world projects and applications. Its solution, viable today, is poised to make a meaningful impact in reducing emissions in one of the hardest to abate sectors.聽
鈥淲e are delighted to support Concretene’s world-class team of scientists and operators in scaling its solution across the industry.鈥�
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