Frankfurt, Germany and Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.  ICIG Ventures, the venture capital arm of International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG), today announced a cooperation agreement with New Iridium, a sustainable chemical innovation company pioneering low-carbon and clean chemistry technologies, to advance next-generation photocatalytic processes in chemical manufacturing. Building on New Iridium’s proprietary light-driven platform for producing CO2-derived chemicals, the c

DENVER, CO – June 10, 2025 – New Iridium , a sustainable chemical innovation company pioneering low-carbon and clean chemistry technologies, today announced it has raised $2.65 million in seed financing. This funding builds on support from the National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), including a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) and ENERGYWERX Vouchers awarded through the DOE’s Office of Te

New Iridium is proud to announce that its flagship products, Bio-Acetic Acid and Bio-Ethyl Acetate , have been officially certified as 100% bio-based under the USDA BioPreferred® Program. This designation affirms the renewable origin and traceability of the carbon content in both products, based on rigorous carbon-14 isotope analysis. The certification was granted following third-party laboratory testing that verified the products are entirely derived from corn-based bio-et

New Iridium is proud to announce a major milestone in its process development: the successful continuous operation of its oxidation flow reactor for over 200 hours. This reactor is a cornerstone of the company’s proprietary technology platform that converts bio-ethanol into bio-based acetic acid and ethyl acetate— sustainable, drop-in alternatives to their fossil-derived counterparts. The achievement marks a significant evolution from earlier batch-mode bubble column reactor

New Iridium is pleased to announce the appointment of Jeff Uhrig as a Strategic Advisor to support the company’s next stage of growth in low-carbon chemical manufacturing. Jeff Uhrig is a seasoned entrepreneur and executive with two decades of experience in the specialty chemicals and sustainable materials sectors. He most recently served as CEO of Novomer and Sirrus, two pioneering chemical technology companies that he successfully led through high-profile exits. Jeff bring

New Iridium has been awarded two prestigious EnergyWerx Vouchers by the U.S. Department of Energy to accelerate the commercialization of its bio-based acetic acid and ethyl acetate platform. These awards support the company’s mission to deliver sustainable, low-carbon alternatives to fossil-derived chemicals. Voucher Opportunity 1: Pre-Demonstration Commercialization Support Under VO-1: Case Studies for the Decarbonization of Technologies and Supply Chains (Office of Clean

New Iridium has been selected as one of the top four finalists for the Radicle Corn Challenge! We will be pitching our innovative technology at the event on October 22, 2024, in San Francisco. Our groundbreaking process converts corn ethanol into bio-based acetic acid—a critical building block in consumer products like footwear, paint, and adhesives. Acetic acid ranks among the top 10 highest-volume organic chemicals, and we are proud to be driving the transition towards sus

New Iridium is excited to announce that we have been awarded $200,000 in funding through the SBIR Phase I program by the U.S. Department of Energy (EERE BETO). This grant will support the scaling up of our innovative bio-acetic acid solution, bringing us closer to delivering sustainable bio-based materials like EVA, PVA, and PVOH, and advancing our commitment to greener chemical alternatives.

New Iridium has achieved a major technical milestone by demonstrating production of 1kg of plant-based acetic acid from corn ethanol (Figure C). This was accomplished using a custom-built irradiated bubble column photoreactor (Figure A) with a theoretical capacity of 1 metric ton per year. Figure B and video show the bubble column photoreactor in action. Next milestones are a) building a 10 metric tons per year stainless steel bubble column photoreactor and b) improving fra

PHOTOCATALYSTS UPCYCLE CO2 INTO COMMODITY CHEMICALS - A new process uses light instead of heat to produce chemicals – saving energy and using up captured CO2 in the process Highlight: Finding sustainable uses for captured CO2 is the challenge taken up by New Iridium. The company has developed a new photocatalysis platform that can efficiently convert CO2 into new, high-value chemicals using low-carbon materials like plant-based feedstocks such as corn- or sugarcane-based eth

The National Science Foundation has awarded Prof. Miyake, New Iridium's co-founder, a three-year, $1.8 million grant to launch the Center for Sustainable Photoredox Catalysis, which will design chemical manufacturing processes harnessing light energy and utilizing readily-available materials as catalysts. Miyake will serve as the director and lead a multidisciplinary team of 12 other researchers from CSU, the University of Colorado Boulder, University of Wisconsin, Universit

Excerpt: Congratulations to the five winners of the second EPIC Prize Pitch Competition! Hosted in New Orleans at the DOE Small Business Forum and Expo, eight startups took to the stage to pitch their clean energy technologies to four industry experts and a diverse audience of investors, government officials, national labs, and small businesses. Each startup was selected by competing incubators in the American-Made EPIC Prize, and five startups won over $160,000 for their g

Excerpt: As more and more CO2 is finding its way into carbon-capture systems instead of the air, the demand for new technologies that actually utilize CO2 is also rising. A new photocatalysis platform developed by New Iridium (Boulder, Colo.; www.newiridium.com) can efficiently convert CO2 into high-value chemicals using ambient temperatures and low-cost hydrocarbon feedstock. “We are using photons to activate chemical reactions, as opposed to high temperatures. Our key expe

New Iridium was selected among the 12 finalists for The 2023 Nature Spinoff Prize. The Spinoff Prize is an award for early stage university spinoff companies from around the world. It gives visibility to academic entrepreneurs and their companies and helps them secure future investment. Excerpt: New Iridium is decarbonizing the chemical industry using light-driven photocatalysis technology to create low-carbon products at lower cost than incumbent processes. Applications in

New Iridium was awarded $1M NSF SBIR Phase II grant to advance its photocatalysis platform to produce at low-carbon chemicals at lower cost the today's incumbent processes.

The Braskem-New Iridium partnership focuses on CO 2  conversion via photocatalysis, the startup's expertise, which is an innovative solution based on the use of light sources (e.g., LEDs) and CO 2  from industrial emissions in combination with low-cost raw materials. In the early phases of development, the technology creates versions of chemical products with lower carbon footprints and the potential to significantly mitigate CO 2  emissions by directly incorporating CO 2  in

New Iridium was crowned the winner of the Environment Track at Hello Tomorrow Global Summit that took place in Paris from March 8-10, 2023. 70 finalists were selected out of about 4000 applicants around the world to deliver a 3-min pitch. Dr. Lim presented his vision on how photocatalysis can revolutionize the chemical industry by producing low-carbon chemicals at lower cost than incumbent processes. Photo credit: Hello Tomorrow

New Iridium's photosynthesis-inspired photocatalysis technology was featured in a short film by RE:TV. Powered by light, New Iridium's solution is inspired by Nature to upcycle carbon dioxide into high-value chemicals via carbon-negative processes. About RE:TV: At RE:TV, we highlight some of the inspiring innovations and ideas that are emerging in response to the climate and biodiversity crisis. By providing a platform for the growing community of change-makers around the w

New Iridium has been selected as a finalist for Hello Tomorrow Global Challenge 2023 - Environmental track. Join us in Paris on March 8-10 for the event! Excerpt of the Hello Tomorrow press release: "THE 70 FINALISTS THAT WILL CHANGE THE WORLD…An international jury of experts carefully reviewed over 4000 applications to the Challenge, and have identified 70 projects that stood out for their technological innovation, economic viability, leadership, team, and potential impact

New Iridium is pleased to announce the acceptance into 2023 REACH Energy Accelerator hosted by Innosphere Ventures. This program will boost our effort to commercialize our technology in producing low-carbon chemicals at lower cost. Press release excerpt: "Innosphere Ventures and Colorado State University (CSU) announce the fourteen startup and scaleup companies that have been selected to join the 2023 REACH (Regional Energy Accelerator for Commercializing Hard-Tech) incubato