Sphera raise £1.9 million funding for carbon-negative aggregate

UK start-up firm to support circular economy with development of carbon neutral concrete

SUSTAINABLE building material specialists Sphera have secured £1.9 million in their latest funding round for the start-up company’s flagship product OSTO – a carbon-negative lightweight aggregate that can be used to make concrete.

The recycled material solution is currently being trialled in concrete blockwork, making traditional carbon-intensive blocks ‘carbon zero’ whilst reducing the overall carbon footprint of buildings.

Commenting on the latest round of funding and support that will help the business grow and produce OSTO at scale for the construction sector, Dr Natasha Boulding, chief executive officer and co-founder of Sphera, said: ‘I’m excited to be welcoming new team members and gaining extra resources to support our vision to be at the global forefront of low-carbon and environmentally friendly material innovation for the built environment.’

The investment round brought together a range of stakeholders who support Sphera’s vision for a net-zero construction sector. It includes Green Angel Syndicate (GAS), the UK's largest specialist network of investors fighting climate change.

‘Natasha [Boulding] and her team really impressed our specialist Green Angel Syndicate members, right from the very first meeting,’ said Cam Ross, CEO of GAS. ‘The Sphera approach to decarbonizing such a mainstream component of global building materials is very compelling, hence our substantial investment.’

The investment round follows a successful year for Sphera, who recently became an advisory board member for the UKGBC’s Innovative Start-Up Forum. Dr Boulding also appeared on a COP26 panel in the Green Zone as a leading voice on materials innovation in the built environment alongside representatives from GSK, AstraZeneca, Unilever, and Johnson Matthey.

The next step for Sphera is to launch OSTO in the market and demonstrate its sustainability and carbon-negative benefits across a range of construction projects. The company will also accelerate its development of other new products, with the continued goal of finding innovative material solutions to solve the green challenges of the construction sector, as well as announcing several new collaborations over the next year.