Plural has led a $26m Series A in Gigaton, formerly Carbon Re, the London-based company replacing control software in cement, steel, glass, and chemicals plants.
Existing backers Planet A Ventures and Clean Growth Fund followed on, alongside new investors 2150, Semapa Next, Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, and UCL Technology Fund managed by AlbionVC with UCL Business.
Total funding stands at over $35m, the company says.
Hiring spree
The funding will go towards a fivefold increase in headcount and expansion into steel, glass, and chemicals. Gigaton currently employs around 30 people, per Dealroom estimates.
Gigaton's AI platform replaces legacy plant control software rather than layering on top of it.
The system simulates process behaviour, forecasts the impact of each action before it is taken, and autonomously adjusts parameters including fuel mix, kiln speed, and oxygen levels.
Current customers include Adani Cement, Heidelberg Materials, Holcim, and Mannok Holdings DAC. Each deployment purportedly delivers $1m–$3m in annual savings and cuts around 30,000 tonnes of CO2 per plant.
Heavy industry accounts for around a fifth of global CO₂ emissions, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Carina Namih, partner at Plural, said that the Gigaton team "combines deep AI expertise with years spent inside these plants understanding how they actually operate," improving the results of the software's deployment in plants and factories.
The shareholder base
Plural's entry adds a prominent new name to a cap table that was already well-established.
Prior to the round, Clean Growth Fund held the largest stake in Gigaton at 23%, followed by UCL Technology Fund 2 at 16% and Planet A at 15%, per Dealroom data.
Co-founders Buffy Price and Daniel Summerbell each held a 9% stake, as did the University of Cambridge.