Cocoon Raises $5.4 Million To Enable Dual Decarbonization of Steel and Concrete Industries

Cocoon, a climate technology company enabling steel and concrete to decarbonize in tandem, today announced it has raised $5.4 million in pre-seed funding from Wireframe Ventures, Celsius Industries (fka UNTITLED), Gigascale Capital and SOSV. The investment comes as the transition toward green steel production inadvertently prevents concrete manufacturers from accessing a material necessary for their own decarbonization efforts. Cocoon is repairing a disruption in the circular economy by reconnecting the two industries through a modular system that allows both to better address the rapidly growing demand for sustainable construction worldwide. The company will use the funding to scale its engineering and science teams, accelerate commercialization efforts, and build an industrial lab and demonstrator plant in the UK.

Slag, a by-product of traditional steel manufacturing, has long been used to reduce the amount of cement that goes into concrete. Demand for slag has grown as it functions as a green alternative to cement—which accounts for 90% of concrete production emissions. As the steel industry shifts from using fossil fuel-burning blast furnaces to electric arc furnaces, an unexpected problem has arisen. The new e-slag from electric furnaces cannot be used as a cement substitute, leading to critical shortages of a material concrete manufacturers rely on to reduce their carbon footprint. According to the United States Geological Survey, these shortages have increased the price-per-ton of slag in the U.S. by 100% since 2017.  

Cocoon takes the by-product of steel produced by electrified furnaces—which already accounts for 70% of the steel made in the US—and turns it into a near-identical replacement for blast furnace slag. Its modular technology—the size of a shipping container unit—is highly scalable and elegantly integrates into the end of existing steel-making processes without operational disruption, high capital expenditure, or safety compromises. Targeting a 50% replacement of the cement in concrete, producers using Cocoon’s material can meaningfully  reduce their emissions in the near term while the industry develops and standardizes alternatives to cement.

"We’re turning a by-product with little use into a valuable product that the market badly needs and can be easily integrated into existing supply chains," said Eliot Brooks, co-founder and CEO of Cocoon. "By repairing a broken link in the circular economy, Cocoon provides steel makers with a new revenue stream while meeting the low-carbon material needs of the concrete industry. Connecting these two industries allows builders to construct critical infrastructure while reducing emissions; for every ton of Cocoon’s slag-based cementitious material used, one ton of CO2 can be avoided."

The need for environmentally-friendly steel and concrete has never been greater. According to the World Economic Forum, the pace of building—driven by rapid urban population growth and the need for new infrastructure—is expected to grow over the next 40 years to the equivalent of constructing a new New York City every month. Steel and concrete, essential for these projects, already contribute a staggering 14.5% of global CO2 emissions, a figure that could balloon without intervention.

"Cocoon is a perfect example of how narrowing in on a seemingly niche problem creates opportunities to deliver a cheaper, better product with meaningful climate impact," said Mike Schroepfer, Partner at Gigascale Capital. "Global construction cannot halt for 20–30 years until green building materials are available at scale. Cocoon can put a unit in every electric steel plant in the next 10 years, bridging the gap between humanity’s growing infrastructure needs with the time required to develop new materials."

"Reducing the carbon intensity of the cement industry is imperative to meeting our climate goals, and will require a portfolio approach," said Lily Bernicker, Principal at Wireframe and incoming board member. "This sort of immediate progress can only come from a company like Cocoon. Their innovative technology takes advantage of existing feedstocks, workflows and supply chains to enable rapid scale up of low-carbon cement, all while increasing the profitability of sustainable steel operations."

"Cocoon is killing two birds—decarbonizing steel and cement—with one stone, upcycling a waste product into a high-value industrial input," said Michele Tarawneh, Partner at Celsius Industries. "This near-term, compelling business case to industrial partners is a key pillar for climate technology companies to get to first-of-a-kind (FOAK) project finance faster, and in turn accelerate the roll-out of mission critical climate infrastructure solutions like Cocoon’s."

Cocoon’s co-founders came together less than 15 months ago and have already delivered a minimum viable product (MVP) at lab scale. They're collaborating with a number of cement manufacturers to validate their slag-based cementitious material and will complete construction of a demo with a UK steel plant by the end of 2024, supported in part by $1 million in grants from Innovate UK. The company’s rapid pace of development is driven by a team with highly complementary skills, reflecting how decarbonizing the interconnected industries of steel and concrete in sync can accelerate progress in both.

Cocoon enables builders of tomorrow to construct sustainably. Its modular technology turns the by-product of green steel into a low-emissions substitute for cement making it possible for the steel and concrete industries to decarbonize faster together. Led by co-founders Eliot Brooks, Will Knapp, and Freddie Scott, the London-based company combines expertise in geology, engineering, and materials science. For more information, visit www.cocooncarbon.com.

Media Contact

Eliot Brooks
+44 7742 448295
eliot.brooks@cocooncarbon.com