Molten Ventures is delighted to announce that it has co-led a £3m round in Concretene—a nanomaterial technology firm that aims to decarbonise the concrete industry.
Twenty years after the discovery of the nanomaterial graphene in Manchester, this investment will fund the development of the Concretene product – a graphene-enhanced admixture that reduces the carbon footprint of concrete – to take the business through product certification and onto upscale revenue.
Alongside its new investors, also including LocalGlobe, Concretene is working with leading UK pre-cast manufacturer Roger Bullivant and global cement giant Cemex on specific formulations for low-carbon CEM II/III cements. This work is supported by £1.2m in grant-funding from Innovate UK, secured in 2023.
Concretene’s scientists are also working with concrete specialists from Arup, the world-renowned engineering consultancy, on an extensive material testing programme. This will generate a comprehensive dataset to support material performance and the accreditation of Concretene as a concrete admixture.
Concretene was founded by civil engineers Rob Hibberd and Alex McDermott, who worked with The University of Manchester’s Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC) to develop the prototype formulation.
This prototype delivered compressive strength uplifts of 25-30% in the lab and an average of 17% in three field trials. Dependent on application, this performance enables reduction of CO2 emissions from concrete by around 10-15%.
George Chalmers, Head of Climate, Molten Ventures said: “Concretene has made tremendous strides in getting its technology out of the lab and into meaningful real-world projects and applications. Its solution, viable today, is poised to make a meaningful impact in reducing emissions in one of the hardest to abate sectors. We are delighted to support Concretene's world-class team of scientists and operators in scaling its solution across the industry.”
Mike Harrison, Chief Operating Officer at Concretene said: “We’re delighted to welcome Molten Ventures to join with us and LocalGlobe on our mission to decarbonise concrete. We also want to thank LocalGlobe for their enthusiasm and support in getting Concretene off the ground. Our team in Manchester has a unique combination of expertise and experience across construction and nanomaterial science, which will enable us to deliver our next stage of development and earn industry confidence and certification.
“With the support of our funders and strategic partners Arup and Black Swan Graphene, we’re now well-placed to move forward rapidly to commercialisation.”
Arup’s concrete materials lead Dr Fragkoulis Kanavaris said: “We’ve seen the strengthening of Concretene’s technical team on data analysis, nanomaterials in concrete and graphene formulations. As a result, we’re increasingly confident in Concretene’s ability to expedite the technology and we’re now working in close collaboration on consistency of mixes and formulations towards standardisation.”