Unbelievable! 3 startups that create goods from “thin air”. Literally.

3 innovation and digital news in 1 minute. Every Monday. Episode 372

Air Company — makes flying with air possible

Air Company from New York specialises in creating ethanol from air. The technology extracts CO2 from the atmosphere and chemically turns it into industrial alcohol. For example, used for production of SAF (sustainable aviation fuel). Funding of $40m, funding rounds led by Toyota Ventures and American low-cost airline JetBlue. Opinion: To showcase the innovation, Air Company also launched a collection of consumer products: Air eau de parfum, air hand sanitiser, and air vodka. Surprising — huge variety of product use cases for “air-alcohol”. JetBlue and Toyota investments align with broader industry trends toward sustainable fuels.

Would you try a vodka made from air?

Aircohol — developing ‘greener’ booze

Aircohol was founded in Helsinki. Captures CO2, waste product from regular alcohol production, fermentation of biomass (grains, potatoes…). Recycles the CO2 to produce a new kind of alcohol. Developed a bioreactor for this process. It can be implemented in breweries and distilleries. The start-up secured €2.4m in the seed round in December 2023. Opinion: Aircohol is still in research and development phase. Waiting for patent approval. Makes the production of alcohol more efficient, cost-saving, and environmentally friendly. A brilliant technology. Curious how long it will be before the first Aircohol products are released.

Could booze “made from air” become a trend in 2024?

Solar Foods — a protein made out of air?!

Solar Foods (from Finland too) focuses on producing protein from air. The invention: a process that uses microbes fed with nutrients and gases (carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and oxygen) to produce a protein-rich ingredient — they call it Solein. Solar Foods collected $57.7m in total with the latest funding of $8m in November 2023. As of now, seeking approval to produce and sell the protein in EU. Opinion: Solar Foods explains: Solein is a completely natural protein, even though it isn’t grown traditionally — but in a lab. Neutral taste, can be added to various products. Solar Foods has released a Solein chocolate that is sold in Singapore. Imagine being able to develop a huge number of (non-animal) foods from Solein.

Would you try a protein chocolate made “out of air”?