Partnering with Cocoon for Better, Cheaper, Cleaner Concrete
The New Constraint is Physical
As AI commoditizes software code and nation states race to build out compute, manufacturing, energy, and other essential infrastructure, new bottlenecks to growth are emerging. Scarcity is migrating back to the material inputs that underlie our economy and to the supply chains that provide them.
Few things are more foundational in our physical world than concrete. We use concrete in everything from highways and housing to hospitals and hyperscale data centers. Yet at the exact moment we need to build, a critical ingredient is running out.
The Supply Chain Problem
Supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) are essential to how concrete is made today. They reduce the cost and carbon intensity of concrete, and on top of this, they enhance its resistance to swelling and cracking over time. These technical properties are just as significant as the cost and carbon savings, and often SCM use is mandated by regulation to ensure sufficient durability of concrete in public infrastructure.
The problem is that our conventional SCM sources are disappearing. Fly ash, historically the most widely used SCM in the US, is a byproduct of coal-fired power generation, and its supply is dwindling as our generation capacity moves towards lower carbon power. Similarly, blast furnace slag, the dominant SCM in Europe, is vanishing as steelmaking transitions away from coal-based production.
The consequences are already being felt: ~75% of US state Departments of Transportation report current, recent, or expected SCM shortages. Meanwhile, electric arc furnaces, the increasingly dominant method of steel production, generate vast quantities of EAF slag each year that is today almost entirely landfilled or sold as low-value aggregate. A growing waste stream from one industrial process sits underutilized, next to a mounting supply crisis.
From Common Byproduct to Quality Binder
Cocoon is tackling the SCM shortage by unlocking a new supply stream. Their quenching technology uses rapid cooling to shatter and solidify molten EAF slag, fast enough to lock in a glassy, reactive structure. The system retrofits modularly into existing steel mill infrastructure, co-locating at the slag source to avoid the energy and logistics costs that make most alternative SCMs uncompetitive. The output is a low cost, low carbon, high performance cement replacement.
Behind the technology, the founding team — Eliot Brooks (CEO), Dr. Will Knapp (CSO), and Freddie Scott (CTO) — bring deep domain knowledge and experience scaling at speed. Their balance of commercial, scientific, and technical depth is rare, and it shows in the pace at which Cocoon is moving. Hardware innovation in heavy industry has a reputation for being slow, but Cocoon has gone from TRL 3 in the lab to TRL 7 in the real world in just 18 months. Looking ahead, Cocoon is on track to break ground this year on their first commercial demonstration facility, producing around 10,000 tonnes per year.
So The World Can Keep Building
At 2150, we back entrepreneurs that seek to rebuild the systems that our cities and economies depend on, for a more sustainable, resilient, prosperous future. Cities generate 80% of global GDP, but they also generate 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The problem is huge and innovation is required, to resolve the bottlenecks we are facing today and to ensure that growth today doesn’t come at the expense of our future.
The world urgently needs a new supply of SCMs, so that construction can be sustainable, affordable, and long-lasting. Cocoon is tackling this challenge head-on, faster and more capital-efficiently than any alternative. The goal: Deliver 11 million tonnes of SCM by 2032, mitigating 10 million tonnes of CO₂ per year.
We are thrilled to be co-leading Cocoon’s Series A alongside Brick & Mortar Ventures, and to be partnering with Eliot, Will, and Freddie as they innovate to help the world keep building.
About 2150
2150 is a venture capital firm investing in technology companies that are redefining cities and the industries that sustain them. Built on the belief that cities drive the majority of global prosperity and represent the greatest opportunity for sustainable progress, 2150 backs founders developing transformative solutions across energy, industrial decarbonisation, advanced manufacturing, mobility solutions, and urban systems. The firm partners with companies capable of delivering superior financial outcomes alongside measurable benefits for people and the planet. 2150 manages €500 million in assets under management and invests worldwide from its offices in London, Copenhagen and Berlin.
Find out more at www.2150.vc
