ARC Marine, the developer of low-carbon concrete solutions for use in marine environments, has secured £1 million from the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Investment Fund (CIOSIF), as part of a £2 million funding round, which also includes a Mulago Foundation grant and investment from Mercuria, one of the world’s largest independent energy and commodities groups.
The Truro-based business has developed Marinecrete, a proprietary non-toxic binder, which emits 90% less CO2 than Portland cement and has recently broken new ground on carbon neutral and carbon negative mix designs. Its patented product, reef cubes, can be used in a variety of marine applications across aquaculture, coastal defence, offshore wind, reef conservation and eco-engineering.
ARC says its innovation has the potential to transform the offshore wind farm sector by improving infrastructure installation while preserving marine biodiversity and this will be a key area of focus for the business.
This latest funding follows a previous CIOSIF investment in 2021 and will be used to scale up production and application of ARC’s solutions. Since the first CIOSIF investment ARC has more than doubled the number of employees and quadrupled its turnover and the new funding will be used to further increase headcount with the creation of several highly skilled roles over the next two years
Tom Birbeck, ARC Marine founder and CEO, said: “We are delighted to have secured further CIOSIF funding, via The FSE Group, alongside our new co-investors.
“The first investment helped us grow our team and expand operations and we’re well on our way to proving our innovative solutions can work at scale. Mercuria recognises the potential of Marinecrete and reef cubes in the natural energy supply chain and their partnership will be instrumental in boosting the visibility of ARC.”
Meg Salt, investment manager at The FSE Group, appointed CIOSIF fund manager, added: “Since our initial investment, ARC has secured a number of blue-chip customers including multi-national energy companies. ARC is uniquely placed to support global carbon net zero targets. The opportunity in offshore wind projects alone is significant while there remains huge potential impact across many sectors beyond its current marine setting. We’re thrilled to work with the team as they take the next step in their growth journey.”
