Circe uses advanced gas fermentation to convert CO2 into complex molecules, positioning its platform as a carbon-negative alternative to plant- and animal-derived fats and oils. The company has demonstrated prototypes across confectionery, dairy, sugars, protein, polymers, and biofuels and is currently focused on fats and oils due to their broad industrial use. Its pilot plant in Waltham, MA, accelerated by an ARPA-E contract, will move production out of the lab and enable scale-up of carbon-negative molecule manufacturing. Circe reports that its process consumes 3 kg of CO2 for every 1 kg of oil produced, enabling fully carbon-negative outputs. The company is pursuing partnerships to co-develop products across oils, sugars, proteins, and polymers and aims to secure supply chains with drop-in, carbon-negative alternatives. Circe is based in Boston, MA, and is a spin-off of the Wyss Institute at Harvard University, holding a worldwide exclusive license to commercialize the underlying bioproduction technology. Circe commercializes a Wyss Institute fermentation platform that programs microbes to consume greenhouse gases and produce industrial molecules. Its platform has produced triglycerides (used to make fats, butter, oils), sugar‑like molecules, biodegradable plastics, and biofuels using only CO2, water, and electricity as inputs. The company has used its triglycerides to make the world's first gas fermentation‑derived chocolate and is exploring other fats including milkfat and palm oil for food, cosmetics, and fuel applications. Circe emerged from work in Pamela Silver’s lab and was spun out of Harvard after being nurtured at the Wyss Institute; co‑founders include Shannon Nangle and Marika Ziesack. The Wyss Institute designated the platform an Institute Project in 2021 and provided additional funding and validation support to de‑risk the technology. Circe has raised over $8 million from venture investors and previously received $3.2 million from the U.S. Department of Energy’s ARPA‑E ECOSynBio program while still at Wyss.

Total raised

$13M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Seed

Latest activity

Sep 2024