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Carbfix: Creating a Market for Permanent...

Lenox, Michael, Ei...

Case

Carbfix: Creating a Market for Permanent Carbon Storage

Lenox, Michael; Eichengreen, Jacob

S-0407 | Published January 30, 2024 | 16 pages Case

Collection: Darden School of Business

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Carbfix, a start-up based in Reykjavik, Iceland, that has developed a novel carbon-sequestration technology, has recently won a $120 million grant from the EU Innovation Fund to build the world’s first large-scale carbon-importation and sequestration hub. CEO Kristinn Ingi Lárusson recognized that Carbfix was entering into an important new phase in its development. The grant was undoubtedly a huge win for the company, but Carbfix was still a long way from financial stability and achieving its stated goal of sequestering one billion tons of CO2. The viability of the company’s business was dependent on the emergence of a vibrant market for permanent carbon storage. Would a global market materialize? How big of a market opportunity was Carbfix ultimately pursuing? Was this the right time to invest versus later in the technology life cycle?