Now that he’s able to drive past buildings made of his green concrete blocks, Robert Niven is gearing up for CarbonCure Technology’s second round of funding, which he hopes will raise $3 million to $5 million.

Niven, an environmental engineer and chemist and now the company’s CEO, conceived of CarbonCure (and its sister company Carbon Sense Solutions) five years ago as a means of improving the environmental efficiency of making concrete blocks. Rather than cure the blocks through an energy-intensive steam system, CarbonCure hardens the blocks with carbon-dioxide, producing a quality concrete block at a competitive price with the bonus of being green construction material.

The company successfully raised its first round of funding in February, landing a $1.1 million investment from Innovacorp, and $400,000 from private investors, mainly from Atlantic Canada. It used that investment to leverage additional funding from Sustainable Development Technology Canada and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency for a total raise of $4 million.

Now Niven is beginning to talk to venture capital firms outside the region about investing in the company, whose technology is being adopted by plants across North America.

“We’ve hit all of our milestones,” said Niven, sitting in the high-ceilinged lobby of the Life Sciences Building on Summer Street, where the CarbonCure office is located. “Our technology has been commissioned in three plants, and our first buildings have gone up.”

These achievements add up to one factor that differentiates CarbonCure from some of its competitors: real-life developers are using its product in real-life buildings. In Niven’s mind, without that accomplishment, the technology is nothing other than a “science project”.

The blocks have been used in the new Hub building on Gottingen Street in Halifax, and will be used in the high school being built in Bedford, N.S. They’ve also been used in a condo tower in Toronto.

The CarbonCure technology is now at work at The Shaw Group’s facility in Lantz, N.S., where the system was beta tested. It is also being used at plants in a Toronto facility (the biggest concrete block plant in Canada) and another near San Francisco (the largest plant west of the Mississippi).

CarbonCure’s products are now listed in several  Top 10 Design specification lists in North America, which is important because they are a primary resource for developers, who are the ones who create demand for building materials.

“The developers are really realizing that this is green without compromise – they don’t have to pay more; they don’t have to compromise on product quality,” said Niven. He added that they are also realizing that the green certification of the blocks can help to differentiate a development in the eyes of end-users.

In another sign that the company is maturing, CarbonCure has recently hired two key employees, completing what Niven calls the “core team”.

Niven is now looking for investors from outside the region who can bring more than just capital to the company. Having established a presence in North America, the company is hoping to expand in international markets, especially the emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China. The company’s board now has five directors focused on the North American market, and he would like to add one person whose expertise extends to other countries.

CarbonCure is also looking to diversify its product offering so that its technology can be used in ready mix concrete – which makes up about three quarters of the market for concrete products. The main driver, said Niven, will be coming up with a process that can use carbon to save the users of concrete money while strengthening it and producing fewer defects.