Viridi CO2
Viridi enables manufacturers to make chemical products such as plastics, foams, surfactants and cleaning solutions using CO2 captured from the atmosphere, whilst directly replacing traditional petrochemicals. The worlds first CO2 negative, biodegradable, plastics!
Daniel Stewart, CEO/Co-founder, ViridiCO2 Ltd.
Daniel is the CEO and Co-founder of ViridiCO2, a carbon dioxide (CO2) utilisation company whose innovative catalyst technology transforms waste CO2 into high-value chemical intermediates. The ViridiCO2 technology enables the direct replacement of those petrochemicals currently in use, with waste CO2.
Daniel studied for his undergraduate degree at the University of Southampton, before going onto to complete a PhD under the supervision of Professor Robert Raja, during which he discovered ViridiCO2’s ground-breaking carbon capture utilisation methods. On completion of his PhD, Daniel was awarded an ICURe grant, enabling him to spin-out his technology into ViridiCO2 Ltd.
Viridi CO2’s story
I've always been really curious about the world. How it works? How things function? Science has always provided me with the reasons and the explanations behind it. I remember a science lesson very vividly watching Al Gore's “An Inconvenient Truth”. Sitting there watching it, I was amazed at how much evidence there was for climate change and yet the solutions are so un-commercial. If we're ever to *actually* achieve net zero then we need innovative solutions to both capture gases like carbon dioxide and create sustainable materials from it - but this is such a difficult process, right? You've got to break the carbon-oxygen bonds which are thermodynamically very stable.
So I figured that we've got to design a completely new system - a catalyst and a process - which will not only capture the carbon dioxide but then interact with other molecules within the system and make value added products - so I started researching novel ways to carry out transformations on carbon dioxide to be able to utilise it as a feedstock. Currently, there are no scalable solutions able to do that.
I remember the day we had our big breakthrough - we were carrying out reactions just as normal. We were testing some new technology and I put it all into the reactor, and ran the reaction. A few hours later we tried to open the reactor and there was just this horrible goopy mess - proof that the technology we put in and designed to transform carbon dioxide had worked. The goopy product we had made was derived from carbon dioxide. It was there we realized we had something of real importance - as until then no-one had ever found a way to activate carbon dioxide with this type of process.
From that point - I raised initial Angel funding to spin-out the company from Southampton Uni, then raised a seed round from Ali when he was at EQT. Ali continues to support us and has been integral in our most recent funding round.
We’ve achieved all this in only 2 years. Now, we've just signed our first 2 JDA's and offtake agreements to scale the product commercially, and are in late stage discussions with several of the largest chemical manufacturers in the world. All of this is building towards our greatest goal - delivering clean, biodegradeable plastics and other products on shelves that actually take CO2 OUT of the atmosphere, all powered by ViridiCO2!
“Working with Ali as a board director and investor has proven to be of huge value our in ViridiCO2’s journey, and as my development as a first time CEO. His support goes far beyond capital — Ali brings strategic insight, emotional intelligence, and a deep understanding of scaling businesses with integrity and vision. Ali empowers me as a founder, whilst simultaneously challenging and championing me. Ali has always been a true partner. Always available for guidance, candid in feedback, and unwavering in his belief in our team. Whether navigating tough decisions or celebrating wins, he consistently adds value and perspective that push us to think bigger and operate smarter.”