Newlight Technologies raises $125 million for greenhouse-gas-to-materials platform

Newlight Technologies closed a $125 million equity round led by Temasek's GenZero to scale AirCarbon, a material made from greenhouse gas using natural microorganisms. Indian manufacturers in fashion, food service and automotive sectors seeking decarbonized materials may track such carbon-to-product technologies.

Newlight Technologies secured $125 million in an equity round led by GenZero, a Temasek-owned decarbonization investment platform, with participation from Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, Charter Next Generation, a global luxury goods manufacturer and other shareholders. Newlight uses natural microorganisms from California that consume greenhouse gas to produce PHB (polyhydroxybutyrate), which is purified into AirCarbon, a material composed of roughly 40% oxygen from air and 60% carbon from greenhouse gas. With IBM, Newlight developed a blockchain-based carbon tracking system with third-party certification.

The technology affects manufacturers in fashion, entertainment, food service, hotel and automotive industries seeking sustainable alternatives to synthetic plastics. Newlight is delivering AirCarbon-based products to over 5,000 locations worldwide and previously partnered with Nike in 2021 to explore sustainable products. By producing biomaterials and moving away from synthetic plastics, the approach aims to reduce marine plastic accumulation and capture carbon from air into durable products, preventing excess greenhouse gas release while supporting ocean and climate restoration.

Indian manufacturers and brands in fashion, food service, automotive and packaging seeking decarbonized materials should monitor Newlight's manufacturing scale-up following its $125 million round and its goal of using greenhouse gas as a global-scale material resource. Stakeholders should track AirCarbon's commercial expansion across the 5,000-plus existing locations and the blockchain-based carbon tracking model developed with IBM, which offers a transparency reference for verifying the carbon impact of biomaterial products.

Key figure — Equity investment raised: $125 million