Aeon Blue, the Cape Breton green fuel and carbon capture startup, is halfway through its bridge round, and is planning a seed round with the goal of becoming fully operational by 2027.

Based in Sydney River, Aeon Blue specializes in the production of sustainable eFuels by harnessing wind energy and seawater. The company’s technology and processes aim to integrate hydrogen production with carbon capture technology, using wind energy, seawater, and atmospheric carbon dioxide to create cost-efficient eFuel.

The venture recently raised $195,000 in equity funding from the Cape Breton Capital Group and is now halfway through its bridge raise of about $750,000.  The company plans to complete the bridge round in the next few months then raise a $10M seed round that will be dedicated to building a pilot reactor.

The company is run by CEO Lark Meadows and her brother Chief Technology Officer Deóis Ua Cearnaigh. They founded Aeon Blue in the U.S. in 2018. Meadows was previously the CEO of a Los Angeles non-profit that advocated for gender rights where she oversaw a staff of 25 and hundreds of volunteers. She also worked as a project developer and produced over 100 events, stage and film productions.

Meadows, who is living on the east coast of the continent for the first time, said she is finding the environment for raising money favourable and that her experience in the film world is beneficial as each movie is like a small startup, requiring project development and relationship building. While the assets are different, the tight budgeting for these projects demands creativity, collaboration, and meticulous planning to pull off.

“So far this year it’s very positive,” Meadows told Entrevestor. “We have found that Nova Scotia especially is extremely progressive and has a pretty big commitment to becoming net zero by 2050…Investors really want to support climate technology companies that will help meet these goals.”

The upcoming seed round is intended to pay for the company’s pilot reactor which will be validated at the Verschuren Centre, she said.

The company has designed a saltwater electrolyzer that integrates both hydrogen production and direct air capture. That means it can produce a synthetic fuel that can replace gasoline, diesel or other products while capturing carbon dioxide and storing it underground. With some fuels, the process can capture six times as much CO2 as the eFuel produces when it burns, the company has said.

Aeon Blue believes it can compete on cost because its saltwater electrolyzer is “100 percent interruptible.” The system operates off wind or solar energy, but it only needs to run when the wind is blowing or the sun is shining. That means its facility will not need expensive batteries to store energy from these intermittent sources, thus reducing production costs.

Meadows said there is a great deal of demand for eFuels, especially in sectors that need liquid fuels such as the aviation industry. She said Aeon Blue’s technology is able to generate incremental revenues. For example, they are aiming for US$3 million (C$4.3 million) this year in carbon credit sales.

Their range of offerings, from natural gas to rocket fuel, will help bolster the economics of the company as it handles the notorious difficulties of scaling, Meadows said.

“We can produce any kind of fuel the buyer wants,” she said, adding that the venture’s initial focus will be on producing natural gas for the local market and aviation fuel.

Currently, the company has just three employees: Meadows; her brother Deóis Ua Cearnaigh; and Chief Administrative Officer Lori Bowen, who has also worked in the film industry.

By the end of the year, they plan to have increased staffing to six although much work will continue to be outsourced.