Minus Materials

Minus Materials spun out of the University of Colorado Boulder's Living Materials Laboratory and is backed by SOSV's IndieBio program. The startup uses calcareous microalgae that capture CO2 as they grow to produce biogenic limestone — a renewable alternative to conventionally mined limestone. Because the algae sequester carbon during growth, the resulting limestone is carbon-negative, enabling cement producers to dramatically reduce the 8% share of global emissions attributable to cement production. The company has already supplied samples to cement industry partners including Microsoft and is developing a pilot at-scale cultivation system designed to be replicable anywhere in the world using only sunlight, seawater, and CO2.