Air Capture DAC Partnerships, $50 M Series A, 1 Corning Deal, and 2 Major Projects (2021 to 2026)

Air Capture DAC Commercial Projects Advance from R&D to Pilot Deployment

Air Capture has transitioned its strategy from foundational, federally-funded research and development to tangible, international commercial pilots, demonstrating a clear acceleration toward market-readiness. The company’s progression shows a deliberate move to validate its modular design and specialized material partnerships in real-world operational environments, shifting from theoretical cost-reduction goals to physical deployment.

• Between 2021 and 2024, Air Capture’s primary focus was on establishing its technological foundation through strategic, government-backed initiatives. This phase included securing U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funding in August 2023 to co-develop a low-cost system with materials expert Corning and manufacturing giant Hyundai, alongside beginning validation tests for its integrated system at the prestigious National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC).
• From 2025 to 2026, the company pivoted to executing commercial-scale demonstrations that validate its R&D efforts. The most significant event was the deployment of eight modular DAC units at Project Hajar in the UAE in March 2026, which became operational in just 17 days. This project provided a crucial proof point for the rapid deployment capabilities of its modular design and the effectiveness of the Corning substrate partnership.
• This shift from controlled testing at the NCCC to rapid international deployment underscores a strategy focused on proving scalability and operational efficiency. The successful execution at Project Hajar and the secured funding for the U.S. Regional DAC Hubs program indicate that Air Capture is actively building a portfolio of operational projects to attract large-scale investment and carbon removal offtake agreements.

Air Capture $50 M Series A and Volatile DOE Grant Funding

Air Capture’s financial trajectory is defined by a dual reliance on private venture capital for corporate growth and high-stakes public funding for large-scale project execution, exposing the company to significant policy-related risks. While successfully securing private funding to scale its core operations, its participation in the DOE’s Regional DAC Hubs program has been marked by extreme volatility, highlighting a critical dependency on political and administrative stability for its long-term deployment plans.

• In June 2025, Air Capture secured $50 million in a Series A funding round, providing essential capital to scale up the manufacturing and commercial deployment of its modular DAC systems. This private investment validated investor confidence in its technology and business model.
• This stability was contrasted by severe uncertainty in the public funding sphere. In October 2025, the administration announced the termination of over $7.5 billion in clean energy funding, which directly threatened the Regional DAC Hubs program, a cornerstone of Air Capture’s U.S. scale-up strategy.
• Although $1.2 billion in funding for the DAC and hydrogen hubs was officially restored in April 2026, the near-cancellation event underscores the inherent political risk tied to the company’s reliance on government programs. This episode makes securing private, long-term offtake agreements imperative to de-risk its revenue model.

Table: Air Capture’s Recent Funding and Government Investment Allocations

Air Capture DAC Technology Partnerships with Corning and Hyundai

Air Capture has built its strategy around leveraging partnerships with established industrial leaders to address the core DAC challenges of manufacturing cost and scalability. By collaborating with Corning on materials science and the DOE for project funding, the company is de-risking its production ramp-up and large-scale deployment pathways, a model distinct from vertically integrated competitors.

• The cornerstone of Air Capture’s technology strategy is its March 2026 partnership with Corning. This collaboration integrates Corning’s advanced material substrates into Air Capture’s modular units, aiming to improve capture efficiency and reduce manufacturing costs by leveraging established industrial processes. This was successfully demonstrated at Project Hajar.
• Air Capture’s large-scale domestic ambitions are underpinned by its participation in the U.S. DOE’s Regional DAC Hubs program. After facing cancellation, the program’s funding was restored in April 2026, securing a critical pathway for developing million-ton-scale facilities in the U.S. and validating the company’s alignment with national decarbonization policy.
• A collaboration with Hyundai was established in 2023 as part of a DOE-funded project, intended to bring mass-production expertise to the modular design. While the most recent activities have centered on the Corning partnership, the underlying strategy to use automotive-sector manufacturing discipline remains a key potential advantage.

Table: Air Capture’s Key Partnerships and Collaborations

U.S. and UAE, Air Capture Geographic Focus for DAC Projects

Air Capture’s geographic strategy has evolved from a U.S.-centric R&D focus to include international commercial demonstrations, signaling an ambition to compete in the global carbon removal market. While its foundational partnerships and large-scale ambitions remain rooted in the United States, its first major operational deployment occurred in the United Arab Emirates, demonstrating its capacity for rapid international project execution.

• Between 2021 and 2024, Air Capture’s activities were concentrated in the United States. This period was characterized by securing DOE funding, establishing its primary R&D collaboration with Corning and Hyundai, and initiating pilot tests at the National Carbon Capture Center in Alabama.
• The period from 2025 to 2026 marked a significant geographic expansion with the successful deployment of its modular DAC units for Project Hajar in the UAE. This project served as a critical commercial proof-of-concept outside its domestic market.
• Despite the successful UAE pilot, Air Capture’s primary path to megaton-scale removal remains in the U.S. through the DOE’s Regional DAC Hubs program. The reinstatement of funding for hubs in Texas and Louisiana in April 2026 solidifies the U.S. as the core of its long-term, large-scale strategy, while the UAE project demonstrates its capability to serve international markets.

Air Capture DAC Technology Advances to TRL 7+ Operational Prototype

Air Capture’s technology has rapidly matured from a conceptual design to an operational prototype demonstrated in a commercial setting, validating its core design principles of modularity and advanced material integration. The company has methodically progressed from controlled testing to real-world deployment, successfully achieving key readiness milestones and de-risking its technology for investors and potential customers.

• In the 2021-2024 timeframe, Air Capture focused on initial validation and development. This culminated in the July 2023 installation of its system at the National Carbon Capture Center for third-party testing and a stated goal to reach Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 7+ by the end of 2024.
• The 2025-2026 period saw this goal realized with the March 2026 deployment at Project Hajar. Installing and operating eight modular units featuring Corning substrates in just 17 days served as a successful demonstration of a TRL 7+ prototype in an operational environment, proving the system’s readiness for commercial pilots.
• The technology’s progression from a U.S.-based testbed to an international commercial deployment validates the partnership with Corning and demonstrates that the modular design facilitates rapid and scalable installation, a key differentiator in the capital-intensive DAC market. The current challenge is to translate this operational success into documented cost reductions toward the industry target of sub-$200 per ton.

SWOT Analysis for Air Capture’s DAC Technology and Market Position

Air Capture’s strategic position is shaped by its innovative partnership-led model for manufacturing, which presents both distinct advantages in scalability and significant risks tied to external dependencies and policy fluctuations. The company’s recent operational successes have validated key aspects of its strategy, but its long-term commercial viability hinges on converting these technical wins into a stable, diversified revenue base independent of volatile government funding cycles.

Table: SWOT Analysis for Air Capture’s DAC System and Partnerships

Air Capture DAC: Securing Private Offtake to Mitigate Policy Risk

The single most critical action for Air Capture in the year ahead is to convert its recent technological and deployment successes into bankable, multi-year carbon removal offtake agreements with corporate buyers. Doing so is essential to diversify its revenue streams and reduce its high-risk dependency on the volatile U.S. federal funding cycle, which nearly derailed its domestic scale-up plans in late 2025.

• If Air Capture successfully leverages the operational data from Project Hajar to prove its cost and efficiency metrics, watch for the announcement of its first major corporate offtake agreement. This would be a crucial signal that its value proposition resonates with the private market.
• As the DOE-funded DAC Hubs in Texas and Louisiana move from planning to execution, these could be happening: Air Capture may announce its specific role and deployment targets within these projects. Progress on permitting and construction for these hubs is a key indicator of its ability to scale in the U.S.
• Given the success of the Corning partnership, watch for further announcements related to manufacturing scale-up. An expansion of production capacity for the specialized substrates would signal strong anticipated demand and a commitment to meeting it.

The questions your competitors are already asking

This report covers one angle of AirCapture’s commercialization through strategic partnerships and pilot deployments. The questions that matter most depend on your work.

• AirCapture activities in DAC. Is the Corning and Hyundai partnership progressing from DOE-funded R&D to commercial deployment?
• What is the operational status of Project Hajar, and what does it prove about AirCapture’s modular DAC units and Corning partnership?
• How does AirCapture’s modular, solid-sorbent DAC system compare to liquid-based systems for rapid, international deployment?
• What are the opportunities for materials and manufacturing companies to partner with DAC developers like AirCapture?

This report does not answer these. Enki Brief Pro does.

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