Kentucky-based direct air capture startup Valiidun is leading decarbonization efforts and setting the standard for carbon removal at a large scale.
Although barely one year old, the company stands on the shoulders of the invaluable experience of its founders, who have 2 unicorns, over 1,000 created jobs and $1.5 billion in capital behind their belts.
Valiidun is hell-bent on achieving the goals set forth in the Paris Agreement, as to date, less than 20 direct air capture plants exist around the world – far too little at this stage to remove the necessary amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere to have an impact on climate change.
By making use of cutting-edge direct air capture (DAC) technology and deploying it at scale, the startup envisions to slash the cost of capturing carbon dioxide by half.
And to ensure the venture’s sustainability, Valiidun has set out to power all of its DAC facilities exclusively with the help of renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar.
Relevant: Experts Reveal Promising Future For CDR At Climeworks DAC Summit
According to estimates from the International Energy Agency (IEA), limiting rising temperatures to 2°C by 2050 will require scaling carbon removal to 6 billion metric tons of CO2 per year, whereas in 2020, only 6 million tons were captured by facilities in the US.
To achieve this ambitious target, Valiidun is teaming up with technology experts and leaders in the field of carbon dioxide removal or CDR with the intention of ‘building big and building fast.’
Just recently, the DAC startup hired former Vice President of Development and Director of Government Relations at indoor farming company AppHarvest, Matt Gosnell as its new Chief Strategy Officer.
AppHarvest has a reputation for building large-scale farms, including one that is among the world’s 20 largest buildings.
Read more: Startup CO2Rail Is Putting Direct Air Capture Tech On Trains!
