
- Founded
- 2023
- Employees*
- 3
- Funding to Date*
- $275,000
- Website
- www.thestarstone.com
Global demand for cement, a key ingredient in concrete, is expected to grow from 4.2 billion tons today to 6.2 billion by 2050. The construction industry relies on it to build everything from homes and buildings to roads and bridges to dams and seawalls. Cement, however, is responsible for almost 90% of concrete emissions. So far, technologies that eliminate cement (or clinker, cement’s carbon-intensive bonding agent) have failed because they cannot scale or compete on cost.
Starstone is developing a bio-concrete that removes cement from the equation. Instead of hauling rock from quarries to kilns to make cement, Starstone grows bacterial cement in fermentation tanks situated at concrete casting facilities. Once that bio-cement is combined with the usual sand aggregate and water, it functions like conventional concrete and slashes the emissions per ton by at least 70%.
Starstone’s proprietary technologies include genetically modified bacteria mixes, enzymatic active ingredients, upcycled bacteria feed, recyclable media, and aggregates sourced from industrial byproducts. These will make Starstone concrete cost-competitive with conventional concrete at scale.
Starstone co-founders, Gabriel Peer and Reut Sorek Abramovich, PhD, and their teammates bring experience in construction, fermentation, microbiological structures, and biomineralization. At IndieBio Demo Day, the Tel Aviv-based company will have a hybrid, bio-concrete breeze block – type of decorative concrete block – made with 50% less cement than conventional concrete. It will illustrate Starstone’s potential to eliminate carbon-intensive steps from concrete production without compromising on cost or quality.