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Executive Summary: Which are the Top 10 Direct Air Capture Companies to Watch?
- KORALL (Sweden) – develops a chemical blend for on-site DAC, turning captured CO₂ into products or storing it underground.
- NuAria (US) – creates scalable DAC systems using sorbent-filled membranes and offers carbon credit solutions.
- fortyfour (Switzerland) – provides electric DAC systems for greenhouses to enrich CO₂ levels and boost crop yields.
- Yama (France) – builds modular DAC systems using electrochemical and low-heat processes to capture and repurpose CO₂.
- Atalanta Climate (Canada) – offers a compact DAC device for homes and offices that captures CO₂ and other pollutants.
- Sora Fuel (US) – develops carbon-negative jet fuel by integrating DAC and CO₂-to-syngas conversion in a single step.
- Yellow Duck (Japan) – captures CO₂ using wave-powered DAC that generates electricity and hydrogen from ocean motion.
- UseNexus (Sweden) – integrates DAC into building ventilation systems for selective CO₂ capture and reuse.
- South Ocean Air (US) – uses cellulose-based sorbents for DAC and AI tools for carbon matching and system monitoring.
- Aerbon (Sweden) – develops DAC systems using solid sorbents and waste heat to produce fossil-free feedstock for e-fuels.
Global Startup Heat Map highlights Emerging Direct Air Capture Companies to Watch
Through the Big Data & Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, covering over 7M+ startups, 20K+ technology trends, plus 150M+ patents, news articles & market reports, we identified 10 direct air capture technology companies.
The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights emerging direct air carbon capture startups you should watch in 2025, as well as the geo-distribution of 480+ startups & scaleups we analyzed for this research.
According to our data, we observe high startup activity in the USA and the UK, followed by India. The top 5 direct air capture startups are London, New York City, Bangalore, Sydney, and Houston.
Meet Emerging Direct Air Capture Companies to Watch in 2025
We hand-picked direct air carbon capture companies to showcase in this report by filtering for their technology, founding year, location, funding, and other metrics. These emerging DAC companies work on solutions ranging from on-site carbon capture and carbon capture for greenhouses to residential direct carbon capture and direct air capture from waste heat.
1. KORALL
- Founding Year: 2023
- Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
- Use For: On-site Carbon Capture
KORALL creates a proprietary chemical blend that directly absorbs carbon dioxide (CO₂) from ambient air. The captured carbon is either stored underground where it mineralizes in bedrock, or deployed to create new products. This turns carbon emissions into usable products.
Credit: KORALL
The startup’s direct air capture (DAC) technology requires only access to atmospheric air for carbon capture. This eliminates extensive transportation to a desired location. It also allows industries to place this system near renewable energy sources.
Further, upon capturing carbon, the startup separates the CO₂ from the liquid and reuses the liquid as a raw material for further capture. This minimizes waste and the need for new blends.
2. NuAria
- Founding Year: 2023
- Location: Tempe, Arizona, US
- Use For: Scalable Carbon Removal
NuAria makes a novel sorbent for direct air carbon capture (DACC). The sorbent is framed in the form of cylindrical wound membranes. This solution becomes scalable to capture carbon.
Moreover, the startup provides carbon credit subscriptions and options for upfront carbon credit purchases. This allows industries and governments to reduce carbon emissions and achieve their net-zero goals.
3. fortyfour
- Founding Year: 2023
- Location: St. Gallen, Switzerland
- Use For: Carbon Capture for Greenhouses
fortyfour provides an on-site direct air capture (DAC) system for small and industrial greenhouses. It uses electric DAC to extract CO₂ from the farm environment rather than burning fossil fuels. This supports closed-loop carbon enrichment and energy sufficiency within the farm.
Credit: fortyfour
Moreover, the startup’s DAC maintains optimal CO₂ levels within the farm to stimulate plant growth. It also avoids CO₂ transportation, liquefaction, and storage, which leads to lesser operational costs.
4. Yama
- Founding Year: 2023
- Location: Paris, France
- Use For: Electrochemical-based Direct Carbon Capture
Yama builds modular DAC systems. Its DAC uses hybrid electrochemical and low-grade heat sources to minimize energy consumption. The systems absorb CO₂ from ambient air into a liquid solvent and then desorb it via the potential of hydrogen (pH) and temperature swings.
The captured CO₂ is either stored or serves as feedstock for green chemistry applications. This allows industries to reduce negative emissions by removing carbon or repurposing it.
5. Atalanta Climate
- Founding Year: 2024
- Location: Vancouver, Canada
- Use For: Residential Direct Carbon Capture
Atalanta Climate offers a compact DAC device to capture excess CO₂ from homes and offices. It uses indoor-friendly materials that remove carbon without the use of chemicals. Besides carbon, it also eliminates dust, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and other pollutants. This provides an efficient alternative to traditional air purifiers.
Moreover, the captured carbon is permanently stored in limestone rock dust which prevents it from enabling global warming. The lower indoor carbon levels increase cognitive function and sleep quality which lead to improved health for residential users.
Want to Explore 480+ Direct Air Capture Startups & Scaleups?
6. Sora Fuel
- Founding Year: 2024
- Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts, US
- Use For: Carbon Negative Jet Fuel
- Funding: Secured USD 6 million in seed funding
Sora Fuel develops sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) using air, water, and renewable energy. It utilizes carbon from ambient air as a feedstock for aviation fuels instead of fossil fuels.
This eliminates the need for other scarce or carbon-intensive feedstocks. Moreover, capturing carbon from the air provides unlimited feedstock and eliminates sourcing constraints.
Credit: Sora Fuel
The technology deploys a liquid bicarbonate electrolyzer to integrate direct air capture and CO₂-to-syngas conversion in a single closed-loop step. This allows carbon utilization directly after capture and reduces the amount of energy required to produce SAFs.
7. Yellow Duck
- Founding Year: 2023
- Location: Kobe City, Japan
- Use For: Carbon Capture from Waves
Yellow Duck develops a DAC system, Wave Duck, that captures carbon dioxide using wave energy. It electrolyzes filtered seawater for the process. Wave Duck floats on the ocean surface and generates electricity by tilting and swaying with the waves.
The DAC system produces hydrogen in the process and then captures CO₂ from the atmosphere. This reduces greenhouse gas emissions while generating a renewable fuel.
Moreover, Wave Duck generates electricity by floating in water. This eliminates construction and installation costs that usually hinder conventional wave and tidal power generation. It also offers scalability to industries as it does not require to be fixed to the seabed or coast.
8. UseNexus
- Founding Year: 2024
- Location: Linkoping, Sweden
- Use For: Selective CO₂ Capture
UseNexus facilitates the selective capture of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Its DAC integrates adsorbent materials into the ventilation system of buildings to increase the efficiency of carbon capture.
Credit: UseNexus
The technology separates carbon from the adsorbent via a regeneration phase. In this phase, the adsorbent is heated to release captured carbon.
The stored carbon has multiple applications, including concrete enrichment, chemical production, and food production. This allows the food and beverage industry to reduce atmospheric CO₂ by turning emissions into usable resources.
9. South Ocean Air
- Founding Year: 2023
- Location: Houston, Texas, US
- Use For: Cellulosic Carbon Capture
South Ocean Air deploys a patented direct air capture system using cellulose. It uses a low-energy plasma treatment on cellulose to create a sorbent that extracts carbon dioxide from ambient air. Being abundant in the environment, cellulose serves as a perpetual and sustainable carbon capture source.
The startup also offers an AI platform for personalized carbon matching by recommending the monthly cellulose requirement and sourcing. It allows businesses to decide when to store, sell, or reuse captured carbon based on location.
It also monitors the DAC units to provide predictive maintenance. This allows the system to operate efficiently and without interruption.
10. Aerbon
- Founding Year: 2022
- Location: Stockholm, Sweden
- Use For: Direct Air Capture from Waste Heat
Aerbon is working on a sorbent-based DAC system for carbon dioxide removal (CDR). Its solid sorbent filters chemically bind with CO₂ to absorb it. Applying heat to these filters in a vacuum releases concentrated CO₂, which is then captured for storage or reuse.
The startup leverages low-grade waste heat to power its DAC system. This facilitates the use of existing thermal energy and minimizes reliance on new energy sources.
The captured carbon serves as a fossil-free feedstock for the production of e-fuels. This further allows industries like aviation, shipping, and heavy transport to transition to a circular carbon economy.
Discover All Emerging Decarbonization Startups
The decarbonization startups showcased in this report are only a small sample of all startups we identified through our data-driven startup scouting approach. Download our free Decarbonization Innovation Report for a broad overview of the industry or get in touch for quick & exhaustive research on the latest technologies & emerging solutions that will impact your company in 2025!
