New investments from Aligned Climate Capital and Energy Capital Ventures® underscore strong demand for carbon capture in a broad range of market segments
SPOKANE, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–CarbonQuest, a leading distributed carbon capture technology provider, announced that it closed its $20 million funding round, led by Riverbend Energy Group, with additional funding from two institutional investors. The company built on its 2024 fundraise, securing new capital from Energy Capital Ventures (ECV) and Aligned Climate Capital to add to the capital raised with Riverbend Energy Group. CarbonQuest will leverage this funding to deploy its Distributed Carbon Capture™ technology to a broader range of customers across North America and hire industry-leading talent.
This new funding will help CarbonQuest achieve the lowest $/ton in the carbon capture industry and improve system efficiency. Drawing from its experience with six commercial deployments, the company will address additional markets that rely on onsite power or re-use CO2 onsite.
“We are thrilled to close out the funding round with two more investors,” said Shane Johnson, CEO of CarbonQuest. “This investment will accelerate our scaling efforts, allow us to hire more talent, and support the development of a diverse base of projects. We also value the expertise of our investors in the key sectors where we enable decarbonization.”
Riverbend Energy Group, Energy Capital Ventures, and Aligned Climate Capital identified CarbonQuest as a key enabler of the energy transition and distributed carbon capture as an under-invested segment of the carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) space. The investments reflect the growing demand by a variety of sectors for economically viable decarbonization solutions and their belief that CarbonQuest’s technology is uniquely positioned to address this underserved market and scale rapidly in multiple market segments. The fact that the company already proved its modular, stackable, solid-sorbent-based process in several commercial settings is an important milestone that the investors are building on.
“As a venture capital fund focused on the resilience, sustainability, and digital transformation of the natural gas industry, we are extremely excited to add CarbonQuest to our portfolio,” said Vic Pascucci, Managing General Partner and Co-Founder of Energy Capital Ventures®. “CarbonQuest brings a stellar team and a critical decarbonization solution to a wide range of industries, including utilities, manufacturing, data centers, and facilities with onsite power. They are a game-changer in green molecules™ innovation.”
CarbonQuest sees solid-sorbent-based, modular CCUS solutions as the future of the carbon capture industry in many applications. The versatility and smaller physical footprint, combined with an increasing customer demand for onsite power, mean opportunity for dramatic acceleration of the technology in several markets at once.
“Commercial and industrial facilities across the country urgently need cost-effective carbon capture solutions,” said Peter Davidson, CEO of Aligned Climate Capital. “CarbonQuest’s proven technology is already serving these customers, and our investment will help the company scale further, faster. We are excited to welcome CarbonQuest into our portfolio and contribute our infrastructure and finance experience.”
Since its initial investment from Riverbend Energy Group, CarbonQuest has made significant progress in expanding its commercial reach. In December 2024, it announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with CO2 mineral storage operator Carbfix to identify sites prime for carbon capture and mineralization. CarbonQuest is finalizing several other projects and partnerships that aim to accelerate immediate emissions reductions in “hard-to-abate” facilities across North America.
“We are excited to welcome Aligned Climate Capital and Energy Capital Ventures into the round,” said Joe Passanante, Managing Director at Riverbend. “Together, we see an amazing future for CarbonQuest and its ability to accelerate growth.”
About CarbonQuest
CarbonQuest is advancing decarbonization with a modular, accessible solution that captures CO2 from buildings and onsite power generation systems before it is emitted to the atmosphere. The captured CO2 is then liquified and transported to local businesses that need carbon for their production processes. By introducing its technology and Sustainable CO2™ into the market, CarbonQuest enables its customers to support a circular economy while meeting ESG and net-zero goals with a cost-effective, turnkey solution. Learn more at www.carbonquest.com.
About Riverbend Energy Group
Riverbend Energy Group, based in Houston, Texas, is a multi-faceted investment firm utilizing risk-weighted deal evaluation processes to deploy capital into a variety of investments in the North American energy sector. Riverbend’s portfolios include investments in traditional energy, energy transition and integrated power. Since 2003, Riverbend has successfully acquired, developed, and managed over $5 billion of total enterprise value across eleven asset portfolios.
To learn more, visit www.riverbendenergygroup.com
About Aligned Climate Capital
Aligned Climate Capital LLC is an asset manager investing exclusively in the companies and projects that are driving the clean energy transition. Founded in 2019, Aligned currently manages approximately $1.9 billion of assets (as of 12/31/23) and invests across multiple strategies and asset classes. The firm’s senior leadership brings decades of climate and clean energy experience across finance, energy markets, and government.
Aligned has two primary investment strategies: the Aligned Climate Fund, which provides capital to venture-stage companies deploying and scaling established clean energy solutions, and Aligned Solar Partners, which acquires and owns fully permitted and construction-ready solar, energy storage, and other clean energy projects.
For more information, please visit www.AlignedClimateCapital.com
About Energy Capital Ventures®
Energy Capital Ventures® (ECV) is the only early-stage venture capital firm dedicated to the sustainability, resilience and digital transformation of the natural gas industry. In addition to this unique focus that champions innovation in what ECV has defined as green molecules™, the firm further differentiates itself with a customized engagement and deep integration with its strategic limited partners. This model brings together the innovation of the startup ecosystem with the scale of the natural gas industry to enable a future of clean, safe, reliable, cost-effective energy.
Learn more at www.energycapitalventures.com
Contacts
Media
Carlos Villacis
Antenna Group for CarbonQuest
David Gehring for Riverbend Energy Group
Vic Pascucci for Energy Climate Ventures
Jamie Corter for Aligned Climate Capital
