Clean steel technology company Boston Metal, which spun out of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has announced a $120 million funding round, led by ArcelorMittal and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates’ investment fund, Breakthrough Energy Ventures.
''There is no economy, there is no infrastructure without steel.”
Tadeu Carneiro, Boston Metal CEO
“There is no economy, there is no infrastructure without steel,” Boston Metal CEO Tadeu Carneiro told CNBC in a video call, adding that decarbonizing the industry to fight climate change is a ‘a big piece of the puzzle.’
In 2018, Boston Metal raised its first round of funding, $20 million, in a round led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures.
“Whenever I hear an idea for what we can do to keep global warming in check– I always ask this question: ‘What’s your plan for steel?’”
Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder
Gates has for years emphasized the need to think about decarbonizing the manufacturing sector. “Whenever I hear an idea for what we can do to keep global warming in check — whether it’s over a conference table or a cheeseburger — I always ask this question: ‘What’s your plan for steel?’” Gates wrote on his own blog in 2019.
With the funding, Boston Metal will ramp up production of green steel at its pilot facility on Woburn, Massachusetts, and support the construction of its Brazilian subsidiary, Boston Metal do Brasil, where the company will manufacture various metals. It plans to begin construction of a demonstration steel plant in 2024 and a commercial sized plant in 2026.
Boston Metal will eventually license its technology to steel companies, rather than being a steel manufacturer itself.
''Our technology is the only one that can scale up to this billions of tons of capacity.”
Tadeu Carneiro, Boston Metal CEO
“Every steelmaking company is in contact with us to understand our progress and when we will become commercial,” Carneiro told CNBC. “They all making pledges to be carbon-neutral by 2050. And they don’t really have a solution right now. So, they really need a solution for large scale, and our technology is the only one that can scale up to this billions of tons of capacity.”