Carbon Capture and Removal Startups funded by Y Combinator (YC) 2026

ALT TEX is a Toronto-based biomaterials startup that has developed the world’s first biodegradable and carbon neutral fabric, engineered from the world’s largest landfill contributor - food waste. Polyester alone makes up 60% of the $2.5 trillion fashion industry and is the biggest blocker preventing brands from meeting sustainability mandates. The patent-pending ALT TEX fermentation technology creates a polyester alternative that works with the existing infrastructure to supply a sustainable, high performance and cost competitive polyester replacement to fashion brands, at scale. The product solves key problems for fashion brands, consumers, and the environment: (1) Fashion brands: ALT TEX sells fabric to fashion brands, allowing them to differentiate via sustainable options (sustainable fashion growing 11% CAGR) and hit sustainability targets, without sacrificing performance or changing their current supply chain. (2) Consumer: The ALT TEX fabric is projected to be half the price vs. other specialized sustainable alternatives (due to low-cost input and scalability), meaning greater accessibility. (3) Environment: A single shirt produced with ALT TEX fabric can divert 1 kg of food waste from landfills, 9 kg of carbon emissions from the air, and 4 g of micro-plastics from our waterways. Co-founders Myra and Avneet have worked together managing teams and projects for six years, with backgrounds in serial entrepreneurship, corporate sales at Fortune 500 companies, textile manufacturing and biochemistry. To date, ALT TEX has created their first fabric prototype that’s 70% stronger than cotton, secured $1M in LOIs and raised $2.3M.

We are crushing roads in need of maintenance, reusing the old road materials, replacing heavy oil with carbon binding lignin. This is both a cheaper, more durable and net carbon negative method, removing ~1.5 tonnes CO2 from the atmosphere from every 100 feet of road. We offer Crushing As A Service (CRAAS) to public and private road owners and refurbishers, and are already gaining international traction. Using satellite imagery, we will monitor road status and potential, and will offer additional tech and bio enhancements to make all roads green and a solution to the climate crisis. We are building the road to a carbon negative future.

AirMyne is building machines to capture & remove carbon dioxide from ambient atmospheric air so it can be utilized or sequestered downstream. Our team is based in Berkeley, CA.

Abatable is a carbon offsetting procurement platform which connects companies with carbon project developers of high quality carbon offsets. Abatable facilitates procurement decisions by offering third party quality assessments of projects and by standardizing multi-year purchase agreements and an automated RFP platform. The team has extensive experience advising institutional investors on nature-based carbon removal and impact investment portfolios and is backed by leading investors like YCombinator, BlueBear Capital and Global Founders Capital.

We're building carbon capture for trains and trucks. We generate revenue for railroads and trucking companies by extracting, purifying, and selling CO2 from their exhaust. Our technology can capture up to 90% of the CO2 in the vehicle's exhaust while reducing soot, particulate matter, and NOx. We've partnered with Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern, Ryder, and Werner, and raised $117 million from Lowercarbon Capital, Valor Equity Partners, Union Square Ventures, and Y Combinator.

SINAI Technologies is an enterprise software that helps carbon-intensive companies to price carbon emissions, manage carbon taxes, and reduce emissions in the most cost-effective way.

Releaf Earth is a climate tech startup pioneering carbon removal and agricultural solutions leveraging biochar (BCR). Expanding from our roots in food processing technology, we now specialize in producing premium biochar from palm kernel shells. Biochar Carbon Removal (BCR) is a powerful tool for carbon sequestration and a key technology for economic development in Africa. African farmers already experience a 150% global mean temperature rise from a climate crisis they didn’t cause. Releaf's mission is to empower rural communities with improved productivity, crop yields, and a role in achieving Net Zero Emissions.

At iMicrobes, we believe there are opportunities for biology to solve our biggest problems. Our mission is to work with the world’s largest companies to use new raw materials and recycle waste for chemical production, polymers, agriculture, and space exploration.

Pachama is a leading climate-tech company harnessing cutting-edge technologies such as computer vision and satellites to drive funding to effective reforestation and conservation projects that sequester carbon, enhance biodiversity and enrich local communities around the world. Through a tech-verified marketplace that counts as customer the likes of Amazon, Airbnb, Netflix and Nespresso, the company drives capital to forests in Brazil, Mexico, India, the USA and beyond. The company is backed by top investors such as Bill Gates' BEV, Chis Sacca's LowerCarbon, Amazon Climate Pledge among others. The company is fully remote and driven by a strong sense of purpose.