CarbonCure, the Halifax cleantech company dedicated to low-carbon concrete products, has signed a licensing agreement with Ontario concrete manufacturer Atlas Block to make its products available in Ontario.
The deal is an important one for CarbonCure because it should establish a recurring revenue stream in a large market, building on the traction it gained with individual projects in such markets as Toronto and Halifax.
Midland, Ont.-based Atlas has been testing the technology for several months and will now permanently install CarbonCure’s technology and apply it across its broad line of products.
It also further validates CarbonCure’s process, which cures concrete blocks by injecting waste carbon into them, thereby seriously reducing the CO2 emissions in the manufacture of concrete products. Concrete is the most widely used construction material in the world, and is responsible for about 5 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions.
“This could transform the entire concrete industry,” said Atlas Block CEO Don Gordon in a statement. “I’ve been in this industry many years. This is easily the most exciting technological improvement I’ve seen.”
As part of the agreement, Atlas Block plans to use CarbonCure products for several sports centre projects for the upcoming 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto.
“B+H Architects is so impressed with the environmental sustainability of this technology that Atlas Block with CarbonCure products will be exclusively specified on all new projects,” said Matthew Roberts of B+H Architects, the lead design consultant for many Pan Am Games projects.
Last fall, condominium developer Tridel completed the first Ontario installation of these blocks at the Hullmark Centre’s Whole Foods parking lot in North York.
CarbonCure says it will roll out its technology across North America this year to offer attractive and affordable design options for green building construction projects.
“Traditionally, the concrete sector has struggled to play in the green building game,” said CarbonCure Founder and CEO Robert Niven. “CarbonCure is helping producers like Atlas profit from unprecedented growth in green construction.”
Niven told Entrevestor last summer he is now working on a second round of funding with a target of $3 million to $5 million, and the company has secured part of this in an investment from 350 Capital of Toronto. CarbonCure has declined to say how much 350 Capital invested.
The company successfully raised its first round of funding in February 2012, landing a $1.1 million investment from Innovacorp, and $400,000 from private investors, mainly from Atlantic Canada.
