Concrete additive-maker alterBiota will aim to grow its staff from nine people to 20 or more by the end of this year with the help of a $4 million equity funding round led by Invest Nova Scotia.

Chief Executive Mark Masotti, a chemical engineer who previously headed up Mitsubishi Canada’s business development operations for infrastructure projects, said in an interview the company has created a process for converting wood fibre into a concrete additive. It allows concrete producers to use less cement while sequestering carbon already stored in the wood in a more permanent way, the company says.

The funding package includes $1.5 million each from Invest Nova Scotia and BDC Capital's Climate Tech Fund, and another $1 million from angel investors.

“Anything in concrete takes a long time to scale, so our objective is to be something that is ‘for the masses,’” said Masotti. “(AlterBiota’s additive) can be used in any concrete product by any producer to achieve some level of decarbonization.”

AlterBiota uses a process called pyrolysis — essentially decomposition driven by high temperatures — to transform wood fibres into a substance known as biochar, which is further processed into hydrous Bio Graphene Oxide, or hBGO, a liquid that can be added to the concrete.

Masotti emphasized that alterBiota’s core technology largely combines processes that are already widely used for other applications, as well as relying on off-the-shelf equipment, making the system more readily scaleable.

He began developing the technology in 2018, doing the early work with the help of a lab in his basement while he was on parental leave. By 2021, he was ready to incorporate and moved to Cape Breton, where the company is now headquartered.

The relocation was spurred partly by the availability of funding for very early-stage companies in Nova Scotia, he added, but the single most significant factor was the Verschuren Centre bioprocessing hub near Sydney.

“We would not be in Cape Breton if it weren’t for the Verschuren Centre,” Masotti said. “Invest Nova Scotia and ACOA attracted us to Nova Scotia, but the deal was sealed for us when we met the Verschuren Centre.”

Led by CEO Beth Mason, the Verschuren Centre gives startups access to industrial fermentation and bioprocessing infrastructure. In September, the facility received a $1 million federal grant to help expand its operating capacity by a factor of 15. A bioprocessing cluster has been showing signs of emerging around the centre, with companies like Dispersa and Cotex Technologies relocating some or all of their operations to the area.

Crucially for Masotti, the Verschuren Centre did not ask for equity in alterBiota, instead charging a fee for the use of the facility.

Last summer, the company piloted its additive with several local concrete producers, with more testing planned for this year.

“We are making sure that we’re very comfortable with our approach and our product before we get too far ahead of ourselves,” said Masotti. “We’re at the stage now where we don’t have to find ways to scale from the bench. We’ve already scaled up from the bench to a commercial-scale asset (the Verschuren Centre).

“This allows us to produce enough material that we can seed the market — send out large enough volumes to customers in order to … run full programs with our product and get a good sense of how it works.”