Latest news with #BreakthroughEnergyVentures
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Fact Check: Bill Gates-backed company created lab-made butter
Claim: A company backed by billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has produced lab-made butter using carbon. Rating: Context: Breakthrough Energy Ventures, an investment fund Gates founded, is a shareholder in Savor, the company that manufactures the lab-made butter. Gates is not personally involved in Savor's management or leadership, according to a Savor spokesperson. In August 2025, a claim spread online that a company backed by Bill Gates had started manufacturing lab-made butter created with carbon, rather than dairy products. The butter rumor churned its way through the internet via posts on X, Facebook and Reddit. According to a 2024 blog post by Gates, he did, in fact, invest in a company called Savor, which announced the commercial launch of its lab-made butter created "directly from carbon without the need for conventional agriculture" in March 2025. Thus, we rate this claim true. Over email, a Savor spokesperson confirmed that Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a mission-driven investment fund Gates founded in 2015, became a shareholder in the company in 2022. According to the spokesperson, Breakthrough Energy Ventures did not own a majority stake and Gates was not personally involved in "the management or leadership of Savor." Carbon-made butter Many social media users expressed concern that the company's lab-made butter was toxic or unsafe for human consumption. However, according to Savor's FAQ — scroll to the end of this page — the company produced its butter by recreating the chemical profile of fats found in dairy-based butter — just through using science, instead of a cow. "The fats we produce are chemically identical to the fat we already eat, just in varying concentrations – they are the same fuel for your body as the fats you already consume every day," the company's FAQ said. In simple terms, natural fats are made from carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. According to Savor, the company's scientists took carbon from gases like carbon dioxide and hydrogen from water (see Page 2). Then, they added heat, pressure and oxidation, which produced the same kind of fat molecules found in milk, beef and vegetable oils. A food scientist for Savor, Jordan Beiden-Charles, told Chicago's WBBM-TV that the company's scientists then added water, lecithin and some "natural flavor and color" to get the final butter product. Lecithin is a group of fatty substances found naturally in foods like egg yolks and peanuts; as is common in the food industry, the company used it as an emulsifier. According to a 2024 Smithsonian Magazine article, Savor used rosemary oil for flavor and beta-carotene, a pigment found in fruits and vegetables, for color. Savor's spokesperson confirmed the continued use of these ingredients and said they also used thyme oil for flavor, adding, "The full ingredients list for Savor's butter is: Savor Fat (MLCT Oil), Water, Salt, Sunflower Lecithin, Rosemary & Thyme oil, Beta Carotene." Per Page 3 of this Savor document, as of 2025, the company has conducted consultation meetings with the FDA and was seeking a "no questions" letter from the agency, which would essentially state that the agency does not have any concerns about the safety of a food product. The Savor spokesperson confirmed that the company was in the process of securing that letter in August 2025. Peer-reviewed research — produced in part by Savor's CEO, Kathleen Alexander — found chemical and biological food processes like those used by Savor could result in "enormous potential reductions in greenhouse gas emissions as well as in land and water use." Gates investment A Feb. 13, 2024, blog post from Gates further confirmed the Microsoft billionaire's investment in Savor. Here's the relevant part (emphasis ours): What we need are new ways of generating the same fat molecules found in animal products, but without greenhouse gas emissions, animal suffering, or dangerous chemicals. And they have to be affordable for everyone. It might sound like a pipe dream, but a company called Savor (which I'm invested in) is in the process of doing it. […] I've tasted Savor's products, and I couldn't believe I wasn't eating real butter. (The burger came close, too.) According to Savor's press kit, the company launched in 2022 via Orca Sciences, a climate-focused research and development organization with reported ties to Gates. "Since then, we have secured $33 million in venture capital funding from Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Synthesis Capital," Savor said (see Page 1). Gates established Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a climate technology-focused investment fund, in 2015 and at the time of this writing was the fund's co-chair, according to its website. This wasn't the first time we've looked into a rumor about lab-made food. Previously, we investigated a claim that a Dutch company was 3D-printing meat cultivated from animal stem cells. Bassi, Margherita. "New 'Butter' Made from Carbon Dioxide Tastes like the Real Dairy Product, Startup Says." Smithsonian Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 July 2024, "Beta-Carotene." Breakthrough Energy. "Breakthrough Energy Origin Story | Breakthrough Energy." 5 Jan. 2024, Costa-Pinto, Rahul, and Dashiell Gantner. "Macronutrients, Minerals, Vitamins and Energy." Anaesthesia & Intensive Care Medicine, vol. 21, no. 3, Mar. 2020, pp. 157–61, Davis, Steven J., et al. "Food without Agriculture." Nature Sustainability, Nov. 2023, pp. 1–6, Accessed 7 Dec. 2023. Davis, Steven J., and Ian McKay. "To Save the Climate, Let's Consider Making Food without Farms." 5 Aug. 2024, Accessed 14 Aug. 2025. "Foreword from Bill Gates." Breakthrough Energy, 2023, Accessed 13 Aug. 2025. Gates, Bill. "Greasy—and Good for the Planet." 13 Feb. 2024, "Ian McKay | Hertz Foundation." Fannie and John Hertz Foundation, 22 Mar. 2024, Accessed 14 Aug. 2025. "Lecithin." Molina, Tara. "Butter Made from Carbon Tastes like the Real Thing, Gets Backing from Bill Gates." 7 Aug. 2025, Accessed 13 Aug. 2025. "One Process, Many Fats." 18 July 2025, Accessed 13 Aug. 2025. "Orca Sciences." 2025, Accessed 14 Aug. 2025. "Savor." 2022, Accessed 13 Aug. 2025. "Savor Launches Butter Made without Agriculture, Showcasing the First of Its Revolutionary Sustainable Fats." 20 Mar. 2025, Accessed 13 Aug. 2025. "Savor One-Pager 2025." 2025, Accessed 13 Aug. 2025.
Yahoo
30-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How a New Jersey startup found an electrifying way to slash copper costs
Skyrocketing demand for copper promises to push prices to new heights. As the global economy transitions away from fossil fuels, it is going to need twice as much copper in the coming years than humanity has mined throughout all of its existence. Still Bright, a New Jersey-based startup founded in 2022, thinks it has found a novel (and cleaner way) to slash those costs. 'The fact that we've already mined the easily mineable stuff, and the fact that we need many more mines to come into production every year — we're talking like 60-plus mines — is it seems like an impossibility, like there's no path to get there,' Randy Allen, co-founder and CEO of Still Bright, told TechCrunch. But a large fraction of that demand could be met if companies can extract more copper from the ore they already mine. Still Bright has developed a new way to extract copper, one that it says can recover nearly all the copper from typical ores without pre-processing steps that lose up to 20% of the metal. It's effective enough that it could even be used on tailings, the discard piles which still contain smaller amounts of the metal that mines leave behind. 'Any copper that was lost as waste, we can actually process that and get the copper back,' Allen said. To boost production from single digits to hundreds of tons per year, Still Bright has raised an $18.7 million seed round led by Material Impact and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the company exclusively told TechCrunch. Apollo Ventures, Fortescue, Impact Science Ventures, and SOSV participated. Still Bright's technology allows it to extract copper without producing harmful pollution. Where most companies essentially burn away unwanted parts of the ore —releasing much of it into the atmosphere — Still Bright soaks copper-containing ores in a vanadium-based solution, which draws the metal out of the ore. When the vanadium solution is spent, the company's system uses electricity to regenerate it. The core technology was inspired by a type of long-duration energy storage known as a vanadium flow battery. In it, a vanadium-based solution that can be stored in large tanks is charged and discharged by flowing it past a membrane. 'All of this is kind of happenstance. The technical inventor, the CTO of the company Jon [Vardner], he was working on two different projects,' Allen said, one on vanadium flow batteries and another on using vanadium to extract copper. 'It's connecting the dots. One person happened to be doing both.' Still Bright's modular system will be able to be installed at mines spanning a range of sizes. Because the vanadium-based process works so quickly, the company's equipment is much smaller than a typical refiner for the same amount of copper production. 'The processing is on the order of minutes, up to an hour. That allows us to keep everything really small.' The small size pays financial dividends, too. Allen said that Still Bright's equipment is 70% to 90% cheaper than typical pyrometallurgical gear. Currently, the company's process costs about the same to run as a typical refinery, but Allen expects that to change. 'There's a lot of opportunity for us to be cheaper,' he said. Still Bright is planning to build a demonstration unit in 2027 or 2028 that's capable of producing 500 tons of copper annually. It's a big leap from the current pilot scale unit, which makes two tons per year. The ultimate commercial-scale system will produce 10,000 tons per year. The clock is ticking though. Still Bright would like to start refining copper in large enough quantities to benefit from any tariffs President Trump might impose on imports of the metal. If it does, it can use those revenues to develop and deploy commercial scale units. 'We see ourselves as having a path to be among the cheapest copper producers,' Allen said. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
TechCrunch
30-07-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
How a New Jersey startup found an electrifying way to slash copper costs
Skyrocketing demand for copper promises to push prices to new heights. As the global economy transitions away from fossil fuels, it is going to need twice as much copper in the coming years than humanity has mined throughout all of its existence. Still Bright, a New Jersey-based startup founded in 2022, thinks it has found a novel (and cleaner way) to slash those costs. 'The fact that we've already mined the easily mineable stuff, and the fact that we need many more mines to come into production every year — we're talking like 60-plus mines — is it seems like an impossibility, like there's no path to get there,' Randy Allen, co-founder and CEO of Still Bright, told TechCrunch. But a large fraction of that demand could be met if companies can extract more copper from the ore they already mine. Still Bright has developed a new way to extract copper, one that it says can recover nearly all the copper from typical ores without pre-processing steps that lose up to 20% of the metal. It's effective enough that it could even be used on tailings, the discard piles which still contain smaller amounts of the metal that mines leave behind. 'Any copper that was lost as waste, we can actually process that and get the copper back,' Allen said. To boost production from single digits to hundreds of tons per year, Still Bright has raised an $18.7 million seed round led by Material Impact and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the company exclusively told TechCrunch. Apollo Ventures, Fortescue, Impact Science Ventures, and SOSV participated. Techcrunch event Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They're here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don't miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $675 before prices rise. Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They're here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don't miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $675 before prices rise. San Francisco | REGISTER NOW Still Bright's technology allows it to extract copper without producing harmful pollution. Where most companies essentially burn away unwanted parts of the ore —releasing much of it into the atmosphere — Still Bright soaks copper-containing ores in a vanadium-based solution, which draws the metal out of the ore. When the vanadium solution is spent, the company's system uses electricity to regenerate it. The core technology was inspired by a type of long-duration energy storage known as a vanadium flow battery. In it, a vanadium-based solution that can be stored in large tanks is charged and discharged by flowing it past a membrane. 'All of this is kind of happenstance. The technical inventor, the CTO of the company Jon [Vardner], he was working on two different projects,' Allen said, one on vanadium flow batteries and another on using vanadium to extract copper. 'It's connecting the dots. One person happened to be doing both.' Still Bright's modular system will be able to be installed at mines spanning a range of sizes. Because the vanadium-based process works so quickly, the company's equipment is much smaller than a typical refiner for the same amount of copper production. 'The processing is on the order of minutes, up to an hour. That allows us to keep everything really small.' The small size pays financial dividends, too. Allen said that Still Bright's equipment is 70% to 90% cheaper than typical pyrometallurgical gear. Currently, the company's process costs about the same to run as a typical refinery, but Allen expects that to change. 'There's a lot of opportunity for us to be cheaper,' he said. Still Bright is planning to build a demonstration unit in 2027 or 2028 that's capable of producing 500 tons of copper annually. It's a big leap from the current pilot scale unit, which makes two tons per year. The ultimate commercial-scale system will produce 10,000 tons per year. The clock is ticking though. Still Bright would like to start refining copper in large enough quantities to benefit from any tariffs President Trump might impose on imports of the metal. If it does, it can use those revenues to develop and deploy commercial scale units. 'We see ourselves as having a path to be among the cheapest copper producers,' Allen said.
Sustainability Times
24-07-2025
- Business
- Sustainability Times
'They Want to Rewrite Nature With Cement': CO₂-Eating Buildings Backed by Elites While Workers and Architects Call It a Dangerous Scam
IN A NUTSHELL 🌍 Construction is evolving towards sustainability by embracing buildings that can absorb their own CO2 emissions. is evolving towards sustainability by embracing buildings that can absorb their own CO2 emissions. 🚧 The industry faces challenges such as high costs and lack of regulatory push, but eco-friendly materials and technologies are emerging. 🏗️ Graphyte's carbon casting technology utilizes waste biomass to create carbon-rich blocks, making construction projects carbon neutral or negative. carbon casting technology utilizes waste biomass to create carbon-rich blocks, making construction projects carbon neutral or negative. 🏢 These innovations promise a future of self-sustaining cities, transforming construction from an environmental liability to an asset. The landscape of construction is on the brink of a monumental shift. As society and government bodies increasingly acknowledge the urgent need for decarbonization, new technologies are emerging to reshape the industry. One transformative idea comes from a well-known American tycoon who has introduced a groundbreaking concept: buildings that not only reduce but actively absorb their own CO2 emissions. This innovation promises to revolutionize urban environments by mitigating pollution and fostering a sustainable future. The journey towards this vision is filled with challenges and opportunities, as the construction industry grapples with its environmental impact and the path to net-zero emissions. Construction's Journey Toward Net Zero: The Road Ahead Construction activities have long been recognized as significant contributors to environmental pollution. From particulate emissions and water pollution incidents to noise complaints, the industry faces numerous challenges. Dust from land clearing and the operation of diesel engines contribute to air pollution, while demolition activities and toxic substances exacerbate these issues. These emissions not only pose health risks but also fuel climate change, highlighting the need for proactive measures to reduce environmental harm. The transition toward net-zero emissions in construction is fraught with difficulties. Despite growing awareness of environmental issues, the implementation of green technologies is progressing slowly. High costs, industry inertia, and a lack of regulatory impetus for sustainability pose significant barriers. However, the tide is turning. The emergence of eco-friendly construction materials and innovations in technology, coupled with increasing stakeholder pressure, are driving change. As regulations improve and awareness spreads, the construction industry is gradually adopting practices that will reduce its carbon footprint and pave the way for a greener future. Revolutionizing Construction: Buildings That Absorb Their Own CO2 Enter Graphyte, a startup funded by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, co-founded by Bill Gates, which is at the forefront of a revolutionary technology. By utilizing waste biomass such as wood residue and rice hulls, Graphyte's carbon casting process produces carbon-rich blocks capable of absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere. This innovative approach aligns with international efforts to combat climate change and represents a significant shift in the construction industry's role in environmental sustainability. Graphyte's carbon-storing materials enable construction projects to achieve carbon neutrality or even become carbon negative, effectively offsetting their emissions. This paradigm shift transforms construction from an environmental liability into a valuable asset in the fight against climate change. With buildings that can absorb their own CO2, the industry is poised to make a substantial contribution to global sustainability efforts. The Advantages of Graphite: A Game-Changer for Construction Carbon removal is a crucial component of achieving global decarbonization, and Graphyte's carbon casting technology offers a cost-effective solution for large-scale carbon storage. Unlike other methods such as direct air capture, Graphyte's approach leverages waste plant matter, eliminating competition with food production and land use. This makes it a sustainable and scalable solution for carbon removal. Beyond carbon sequestration, Graphyte's carbon-storing materials offer additional benefits. The carbon-dense blocks enhance structural strength and insulation, improving building durability and efficiency. By using waste biomass as feedstock, Graphyte mitigates fossil fuel dependency and addresses waste management issues related to organic materials. The flexibility of these materials allows for their use in residential, commercial, and infrastructure projects, significantly reducing their environmental impact and advancing the construction industry's role in combating climate change. The Future of Self-Sustaining Cities Graphyte's innovation heralds a new era for urban environments, where buildings actively contribute to reducing pollution. By absorbing their own CO2, these structures exemplify the potential for self-sustaining cities of the future. This concept underscores the transformative power of construction in addressing environmental challenges. As the industry evolves, it has the potential to automatically eliminate pollution, paving the way for cleaner, more sustainable cities. As we look to the future, the question remains: How will the construction industry continue to innovate and redefine its role in the fight against climate change? The possibilities are vast, and the journey is just beginning. With continued advancements in technology and a commitment to sustainability, the construction industry can lead the charge toward a more sustainable and environmentally responsible world. What steps will be taken next to ensure buildings become allies in the battle against climate change? This article is based on verified sources and supported by editorial technologies. Did you like it? 4.5/5 (28)
National Post
02-07-2025
- Business
- National Post
Terra CO2 Announces Additional Series B Funding to Scale Sustainable Cement Production
Article content GOLDEN, Colo. — Terra CO2 (Terra), a leading US-based low-carbon building materials company, today announced their series B funding, securing US$124.5M in new equity capital. In addition to the Series B co-leads Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Eagle Materials, GenZero, and Just Climate, the round included major investment from Barclays Climate Ventures. Additional strategic investors to join the round include Prologis, the global logistics leader, Cemex, an international leader in construction materials, and Siemens Financial Services, the financing arm of global technology company Siemens. In addition to the equity raise, Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank, and Stifel Bank co-led the provision of a credit facility furnishing Terra additional financial flexibility. Article content As government funding and subsidies for climate initiatives decrease in the US, it's imperative that these solutions provide cost competitive advantages that can work within existing industries and infrastructures. Terra's SCM provides a commercial deployment ready solution that is not dependent on subsidies, providing both investors and partners with the certainty they need. Article content With the new capital, Terra will be rapidly moving forward with its first 240,000 TPY commercial advanced-processing facility in the Dallas-Fort Worth market. The funding will also support expanding Terra's offices and industrial facilities, significantly growing the team, developing more shovel ready commercial projects, and further advancing new generations of cementitious products. Article content 'Terra's mandate is to deliver cementitious material solutions that the market would purchase solely based on cost and performance, even if there was no carbon benefit. The fact that Terra's cementitious materials also offer significant carbon mitigation is an additional advantage for the built environment,' says Terra CEO Bill Yearsley. Article content 'Terra's technology offers a combination of commercial readiness and cost competitiveness. Its ability to support the decarbonization of a heavy industry such as cement aligns with our commitment to support scalable, near-term solutions in hard-to-abate sectors,' says Steven Poulter, Head of Barclays Climate Ventures. Terra's patented Supplementary Cementitious Materials (SCMs) process produces a high-performing, low-cost alternative to Portland Cement and depleted traditional resources such as fly ash. And unlike other low-carbon SCMs, Terra's OPUS products utilize inexpensive, abundant, and local feedstocks from existing aggregate mines, and work within existing industry infrastructure. This approach enables immediate deployment at scale, delivering cementitious materials that perform equal to or better than historical SCM while significantly reducing carbon emissions. Terra's second product, OPUS Zero, is currently in active concrete trials and would serve as a full Portland cement replacement. Article content About Terra CO2 (Terra) Article content Terra enables our partners to unlock low-carbon cement from source to deployment. As the critical component in creating concrete, the foundation of modern infrastructure, cement is responsible for 8% of the world's CO 2 emissions. The CO 2 and NO x emissions associated with cement make finding an alternative to current solutions a climate imperative. Article content Unique to Terra is their capability to work across a diverse range of silicate rock mineralogy, not constrained by feedstock availability. Terra's technology allows the company to create sustainable construction materials with the most abundant and accessible raw materials on earth from already approved and open mines. Article content Terra's first product, OPUS SCM (Supplementary Cementitious Material), is ready for commercial deployment, capable of replacing up to 50% OPC (Original Portland Cement) and addressing the industry's carbon emissions and dwindling feedstock challenges. Terra's OPUS ZERO™, a potential 100% replacement of OPC, is in full concrete trials. Both leverage Terra's 'drop-in' reactor solution, which seamlessly integrates with existing infrastructure and sets the foundation for the transition to real zero cement. Article content Validated by third parties, Terra's materials perform equal to or better than traditional cementitious products. Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content
