Colipi raises EUR 1.8 million in seed funding round

8 February 2024

Funds to make climate-friendly alternative to palm oil more attractive

The Hamburg-based Colipi start-up has raised EUR 1.8 million in a seed funding round to develop CO2-neutral climate oil as an alternative to palm oil and crude oil, a press release said Wednesday (January 31, 2024). This latest investment round involved Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Innovationsstarter Fonds Hamburg (IFH), Nidobirds Ventures GmbH and business angel Stefan De Loecker as backers of the deep-tech spin-off from the University of Technology (TUHH) in Hamburg.

Colipi to convert CO2 into climate-friendly oil

Dr Nik Raupp, Senior Investment Manager at HTGF, remarked: "The founders of Colipi, with their great technical expertise in biotechnology and truly innovative approaches to sustainable solutions for a significant challenge, serve as a prime example of the bioeconomy's potential." Colipi's patented gas fermentation procedure converts carbon dioxide and carbonaceous waste into climate oil. The fresh capital should take Colipi to the next level with its climate-friendly and sustainable alternative to palm oil. The start-up plans to expand the team, test the market with products manufactured by partners and to scale up technology. "We firmly believe that our gas fermentation process is a milestone for bioprocesses and holds huge potential to produce biomaterials such as oils on a massive scale at favourable prices and without any damaging environmental impact," said Maximilian Webers, joint founder of Colipi.

Sustainable raw material for cosmetics and aviation fuel

Founded in 2022 by Philipp Arbter, Tyll Utesch, Jonas Heuer and Maximilian Webers, Colipi received EUR 4.1 million in funds last year when the German Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection increased the Exist research transfer funding. Colipi also won the Future Hamburg Award 2023. The company's long-term goal is to produce several million tonnes of climate oil annually from 2039 for use in cosmetics and consumer goods and for alternative fuels in sustainable aviation. That would allow other industrial companies to significantly reduce their carbon footprint.

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