Gigaton raises funding to modernize cement production with AI

UK startup Gigaton, formerly Carbon Re, has raised a Series A of $26 million to expand an AI platform for optimizing cement manufacturing. The company has now raised $35 million and is not disclosing its valuation, with Plural leading the round alongside 2150, Semapa Next and existing investors including Planet A Ventures, Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, UCL Technology Fund and Clean Growth Fund.

Cement remains a foundational industrial material, with more than 4 billion tonnes made annually, but production relies heavily on legacy machinery, high-heat kilns and fossil fuels. The process is estimated to be responsible for some 8% of carbon emissions globally, while efforts to use alternative fuels and modern binders add complexity to plant operations.

Gigaton’s system combines plant-mounted hardware with AI-driven controls that monitor kiln performance and help operators manage heating more precisely, particularly as factories use less stable waste-derived fuels and move toward more automated facilities. Customers include Adani Cement, Heidelberg Materials and Holcim, which estimate the technology is saving $1 million+ per year in energy costs and emissions.

The startup began with work developed at Cambridge and UC and is now focused on cement after earlier plans also covered steel and glass. Gigaton says the funding will support hiring, including AI engineers interested in industrial machine learning rather than LLM-focused applications.