Summary

• Viridi has raised £2.2 million in financing led by Odyssey Ventures, with TOP Ventures joining as a strategic investor.
• Its reusable catalyst technology converts captured carbon dioxide into chemical intermediates, initially targeting surfactants for cleaning and personal care products.
• An existing development agreement with Zschimmer & Schwarz supports industrial scale-up, while the company is pursuing further commercial opportunities in Asia and the United States.

Southampton chemical technology company Viridi has secured £2.2 million to expand a manufacturing process that uses captured carbon dioxide as a raw material for industrial chemicals, with initial applications in surfactants used in cleaning and personal care products.

The financing was led by Odyssey Ventures, with participation from Alphatron Impact Ventures, existing angel investors, and TOP Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Thai energy and chemicals group Thaioil.

Viridi announced the investment on 3 November as it prepares to expand its technology, recruit additional staff, and pursue commercial opportunities in Asia and the United States. The company has already established an industrial development partnership with German speciality chemicals producer Zschimmer & Schwarz.

Its process uses a solid, reusable catalyst to incorporate captured carbon dioxide into chemical intermediates that would otherwise rely on conventional carbon feedstocks. Viridi is concentrating initially on surfactants, although it intends to extend the technology into other chemical ingredients.

Carbon dioxide becomes a manufacturing input

Surfactants are used in products ranging from household detergents to shampoos and industrial cleaning formulations. Their chemical structures help liquids interact with oils, dirt, and other materials, making them important ingredients in products designed to clean or disperse substances.

Many established surfactants use feedstocks derived from petroleum or vegetable oils, including palm-based materials. Their manufacture can involve several processing stages, with energy consumption and environmental impacts influenced by the source of the materials and the chemical reactions required.

Viridi is developing an alternative route in which captured carbon dioxide supplies part of the carbon needed to manufacture useful chemical intermediates.

Carbon dioxide is a relatively stable molecule, so incorporating it into other chemicals requires an appropriate reaction pathway. Catalysts enable particular reactions to proceed under conditions that would otherwise be impractical or inefficient.

Viridi’s patented catalyst is designed to activate carbon dioxide so it can be converted into ingredients suitable for further chemical processing. The company says the technology can operate within existing industrial reactors, reducing the need for manufacturers to construct entirely new production facilities.

The catalyst is a solid material that can be separated from the reaction mixture and reused, potentially reducing consumable requirements and simplifying subsequent processing.

According to Viridi, its process can operate at lower temperatures and pressures than selected conventional manufacturing routes. It also aims to reduce unwanted by-products, which may simplify purification and reduce the resources required to obtain the finished chemical.

Those characteristics will influence the economics of commercial deployment, although their value depends on the complete manufacturing process rather than the catalyst’s performance in isolation.

Existing reactors provide a route into industry

Chemical manufacturers operate equipment designed around specific reactions, materials, and production conditions. Replacing an established process can require substantial investment where new reactors, separation equipment, or supporting infrastructure are necessary.

Viridi’s approach is intended to reduce those obstacles by allowing manufacturers to introduce the catalyst within existing facilities, subject to the technical requirements of each application.

However, compatibility must be assessed at individual sites. A process that operates in an existing reactor may still require changes to feedstock supply, temperature control, product separation, storage, or the handling of process gases.

Manufacturers will also need to establish how consistently the catalyst performs over repeated operating cycles. Catalyst lifetime, recovery efficiency, reaction yield, and the purity of the resulting intermediates can affect both cost and product quality.

Viridi says its technology has been validated at industrial pilot scale and is progressing towards wider manufacturing deployment. That demonstrates development beyond laboratory experimentation, although the company has not disclosed commercial production volumes associated with the latest financing.

Its partnership with Zschimmer & Schwarz provides a route for further engineering work. The companies entered a joint development agreement in February 2026 following technical trials that identified potential applications for the technology.

The collaboration is intended to support scale-up and adoption of carbon dioxide-based surfactants, drawing on the German manufacturer’s experience of producing speciality chemicals for industrial customers.

Working with an established manufacturer gives Viridi access to operational expertise and existing customer requirements, while allowing the catalyst process to be evaluated within a commercial chemical production context.

Vireya establishes the first product application

Viridi launched its Vireya range in September 2025, describing it as an anionic surfactant made using captured carbon dioxide as a principal feedstock.

Anionic surfactants carry a negative charge in solution and are commonly used in cleaning and personal care formulations. Their performance depends on chemical structure and concentration, alongside the other ingredients used in the finished product.

Viridi is positioning Vireya as an alternative to established surfactants including sodium laureth sulphate, with the potential to reduce dependence on palm-derived or fossil-based feedstocks.

The company reports that selected Vireya formulations can achieve a carbon footprint up to 70% lower than conventional benchmarks, alongside improvements in cleaning performance and skin mildness. These are company-reported comparisons rather than a universal assessment of every formulation or manufacturing arrangement.

Actual performance will depend on the materials and processes used, the precise product being compared, and the methodology applied to environmental assessment.

Consumer product manufacturers must also consider factors beyond an individual ingredient’s environmental footprint. Formulation stability, safety, compatibility with other materials, production behaviour, and the experience of using the finished product can influence whether a substitute is commercially suitable.

Viridi intends to license its technology to chemical producers rather than manufacture every product independently. That model would allow established manufacturers to adopt the catalyst process while using their existing production and distribution arrangements.

Commercial adoption will depend on whether the process delivers the required product specifications reliably and whether the resulting ingredients can compete on price and performance.

Strategic investment supports Asian expansion

TOP Ventures’ participation connects Viridi with Thaioil, whose activities include refining, petrochemicals, and associated industrial chemical production.

The company has identified Asia as a priority market, where established chemicals manufacturers supply ingredients to consumer product businesses and industrial customers.

Thaioil’s experience with petrochemical operations and chemical supply chains could support commercial discussions and technical evaluation, although the investment does not establish a completed manufacturing agreement for a specific Asian facility.

Odyssey Ventures, which led the financing, also provides a connection to potential commercial expansion in the United States. Viridi intends to use the new capital to strengthen its technical capabilities as it pursues opportunities in both regions.

The work follows earlier investment in industrial expertise. In March 2026, Viridi appointed former Unilever research leader Alastair Sanderson as a strategic adviser to support the commercial development of its chemistry platform.

The company has also been expanding its process engineering capabilities as it prepares to move beyond pilot-scale demonstrations.

Environmental performance depends on the complete process

Using captured carbon dioxide as a chemical feedstock provides an alternative to obtaining all the necessary carbon from conventional fossil or agricultural sources. Its environmental contribution must nevertheless be assessed across the complete production process.

The source of the carbon dioxide, energy consumed during conversion, other materials required, and treatment of by-products all influence the resulting emissions.

The eventual use and disposal of a product also affect its lifecycle assessment. Carbon incorporated into some chemical ingredients may later be released through degradation or other processes, meaning that its use should not automatically be described as permanent carbon storage.

Where the technology lowers demand for conventional feedstocks and reduces production energy requirements, it may provide an emissions benefit without permanently removing the carbon from the atmosphere.

Viridi’s commercial proposition depends on achieving those environmental improvements while producing ingredients that established manufacturers can use competitively.

The £2.2 million financing will support further catalyst development, recruitment, and market expansion as the company builds on its existing manufacturing partnerships.

Further industrial trials and commercial deployments will establish whether the reported efficiency and product advantages can be reproduced consistently at larger production volumes, providing the basis for extending the technology beyond its initial surfactant applications.