atmio, an operating system for easily discovering, repairing, and reporting methane emissions has secured €5.1 million in a seed round.
Notion Capital led the round, with participation from SquareOne. Other investors in the round include prior backers HCVC and Robin Capital, as well as angel investment from Bernhard Mohr, and David Rowan’s VOYAGERS Climate-Tech Fund.
atmio will use the funds to launch its product, employ more developers, and establish a new marketing and customer success team.
Methane, a strong greenhouse gas, is the primary component of natural gas used to generate electricity and heat houses. Previously, natural gas operators depended heavily on manual techniques of leak detection, logging, and repair in response to a methane leak in their plants. This is time-consuming and requires manually identifying the source of a leak and addressing each one individually. Traditionally, leak detection efforts focused on safety issues, overlooking smaller breaches that significantly impact the environment over time. Although operators have recorded methane leaks in the past, they frequently used approximate estimates and did not report regularly.
atmio’s all-in-one system, which includes handheld and stationary monitors, a mobile app, and an integrated management platform, is fully networked for automatic reporting and provides end-to-end detection, repair, and monitoring of all methane leaks. The solution digitizes a previously manual method to reduce time, integrates data into day-to-day procedures, and effectively manages overall maintenance shutdown time. The program allows operators to plan campaigns, monitor and manage repairs, and report all activities completed with the press of a button, including their influence on overall emissions. It can also conduct yearly emission reporting, which is a significant element of complying with new regulations.
Founders Statements:
Marius Krüger, COO and Co-Founder of atmio added:
“We aim to become the world’s leading firm for measuring and managing greenhouse gas emissions. By assisting natural gas companies in reducing an additional 1 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions, we can significantly cut harmful emissions. Moreover, by eliminating leaks, we could capture and market $60 billion in methane each year. We want to create a platform that can combine additional technologies, such as satellite and drone data, and become the one source of truth for industry-related emissions.”
Matthias Schmittmann, CEO and Co-Founder of atmio stated:
“It is critical that we precisely target methane leaks to limit hazardous emissions. Our technology enables natural gas operators to comply with new EU standards and make a significant contribution to decreasing harmful emissions. For example, we discovered that in one customer’s single leak, our solution prevented the release of methane equivalent to 160 roundtrip flights from Germany to the Maldives. This seed investment will allow us to go to market in Germany and replicate our success in companies throughout Europe.”
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The energy sector is responsible for around 20% of worldwide methane emissions, and pressure on oil and gas operators has intensified dramatically in recent years. In May 2024, the EU published the EU Methane Strategy, its first-ever policy to reduce methane emissions in the energy industry. Natural gas operators in Europe must now comply with regulations governing the enhanced measurement, reporting, and verification of energy sector methane emissions, which include obligatory leak detection and repair (LDAR). Further, this follows existing legislation from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and frameworks from the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP). Now, all-natural gas firms operating in these regions must follow strict LDAR criteria. They must now report specific data for each asset and emission source, which is why the present market solutions are insufficient.
Investors Thoughts:
Kamil Mieczakowski, Partner at Notion, said:
“We are happy to invest in atmio, whose platform is launching @ the ideal time to help Europe’s numerous natural gas firms comply with new rules aimed at reducing methane emissions. The team has the required experience to flourish in this business, and we are excited to help them develop.”
Charlotte Baumhauer, Investment Manager at SquareOne, stated:
“Methane emissions account for around 30% of global warming. We believe in atmio’s unique combination of hardware and software to address this urgent problem, and the timing is ideal: under the new regulation, natural gas companies must measure, monitor, and report their methane emissions to the highest standards, as well as take action to reduce them. atmio’s solution produces quick benefits across an entire industry. We are very delighted to help the team with their essential mission.”
