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Concrete might sound like a dull topic to some, but here in the startup world we know it’s a fascinating frontier in materials science.

Case on point: today’s start up. Scroll down to read all about Ureaka. As usual, Premium subscribers get the full story.

But first:

• What did you make of the UK government’s big AI strategy launch yesterday?

• The Guardian has a good bite-size summary of the key points but it’s worth reading Matt Clifford’s report, which forms the basis of the strategy, in full. Ingrid and Mike over at TechCrunch have rounded up what some UK VCs think.

• My take: Yes, AI is overheated as a startup investment opportunity right now and if progress towards AGI (however that’s usefully defined) falters, some of the biggest names in the space could be in trouble. But the tech isn’t going away and it can be incredibly useful if deployed thoughtfully. It makes sense for the UK to make the most of the opportunity.

• As the report says “The risks from underinvesting and underpreparing… seem much greater than the risks from the opposite. Even if AI progress slows, we will see large benefits from deploying today’s frontier capabilities and investing in our infrastructure and talent base.”

• But the government should be careful not to put its eggs in one basket when it comes to emerging tech. I wonder what a recommendations a ‘biotech opportunities report’ or ‘materials science opportunities report’ might have contained if it weren’t for the level of AI hype right now?

• Want to know more about Matt Clifford? We interviewed him back in 2022.

– Martin

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Bricking it: Ureaka thinks it has an edge in the carbon-negative concrete race

Concrete is one of the (literal) building blocks of the modern world, and yet it comes with environmental impacts that can be difficult to avoid.

But what if at least some of the negative impact could be removed by creating concrete in a new way? That’s what Scottish startup Ureaka is working on with its simple-sounding pitch: “We turn CO2 into concrete.”

“Ureaka makes carbon-negative bio-concrete,” explains founder Philip Salter. CO2 is stored inside the concrete as part of the production process.  

“We remove the inherently high carbon footprint of concrete, and we're also storing carbon in it.”

The selling points here are that captured CO2 can be transformed into strong and durable bio-concrete, which the startup says is up to 30% lighter than conventional concrete, with equivalent strength.

In practice, of course, it’s a bit more complicated than that:

“I've spent the last four years of my PhD developing these materials, characterising them, using lots of different analysis methods,” Salter says.

“This mineralisation technology has been around for 20 years, but no one has devised a way to integrate CO2 storage into those materials. They typically rely on reagents that have quite a high carbon footprint, and our patent-pending process allows us to integrate carbon storage into our materials using existing carbon capture methods.”

This process, Salter says, involves ammonia produced as a byproduct, which can be used to capture CO2, which then feeds back into the production of the concrete.

Salter says the finished product can be commercially competitive with existing concrete, providing comparable performance to normal concrete, while also offering control over the permeability of the material. While some concrete needs to resist liquid and gas, other use cases require, for example, rain water to drain through paving slabs.

Price-wise, Salter says Ureaka’s concrete compares well to conventional alternatives, too:

“I don't think there is a green premium. I don't think we can charge more than conventional concrete, but because we have revenue streams such as the sales and material carbon credits, which could be shared with capture partners. and any allowances under the UK Emissions Trading Scheme…  I think it positions us really well to be competitive with the incumbents while not charging a premium on the materials themselves.”

Salter says a standard brick of Ureaka’s concrete will cost between 25p and 40p to produce, with a retail price of around 80p or 90p, providing a healthy profit margin. And he expects the production price to come down over time.

The story so far

Salter’s path to the construction tech sector began with him working as a junior chemist in the cosmetics industry while studying for a STEM degree from the Open University. 

Through the degree, he developed an interest in geology which led him to do a PhD at the University of Strathclyde, studying a microbially induced carbonate precipitation process.

It was this PhD that led him to the Conception X programme and also the London Business School, which both helped him make connections and firm up the business proposition for the startup, which is a spinout from the university.

Ureaka is now a team of three, with Salter as the sole founder, although he is looking for a co-founder. Having produced concrete in the lab, they’re now working on scaling the process up for commercial readiness. There are technical details to firm up, regulatory hurdles to get through (you’re not allowed to build buildings out of just anything), and they need to develop a go-to-market strategy.

“We still need to put this in front of customers and get solid expressions of interest in buying the materials,” says Salter. 

“That's the big thing we’re going to be working on over the next six months; getting solid commitments on the types of volumes that people would be likely to buy. 

“We have a lot of versatility in the types of materials that we can make, so it's finding the right fit for the market, and understanding what they're actually looking for and what's most important to them. Is it how strong they are? Is it a permeability element? Is it that we can mould to lots of different shapes and sizes? Because we can do that as well.”

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