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redalpine invests in Dunia's Seed Round to catalyze the global energy transition


three men in a lab
Dunia founders Ahmed Ismail (COO), Alex Hammer (CEO), and Marcus Tze-Kiat (CTO)

Catalysts drive 90% of today’s chemical processes, yet as the first Paris Agreement 2030 deadline for NetZero nears, the energy industry is still in urgent need of new catalysts to facilitate this transition. 


Current reliance on a manual, “human centric”  ‘design, make, test, analyze’ (DMTA) approach within the chemical industry remains an obstacle, resulting in slow cycles and a low success rate. Additionally, R&D spending in the chemical industry is low, with leading companies spending less than 5%, some even as low as 1% of revenue on chemical R&D. Since this fundamental energy transition in chemistry requires not just the optimization of existing processes, but completely novel catalysts for reactions not currently done at scale by the industry, we believe that the status quo in the industry is insufficient, requiring new innovation to disrupt catalyst R&D.


We are therefore excited to announce our lead investment in Dunia (RAC VII), a paradigm shifting materials discovery platform, which is harnessing the power of AI and robotic automation to revolutionize chemical R&D and catalysis discovery. We are joined by co-lead investors Elaia, alongside Pace Ventures, Kindred Capital, Deep Science Ventures, Anglo American, and the EIC, bringing the company’s total funding to $11.5 million. 


a better, greener chemical industry

Most materials we need to reach NetZero haven’t been invented yet.” - Alex Hammer, Dunia CEO


For Dunia, one of the biggest challenges of our generation is shifting away from fossil fuels to build a circular economy. That’s their long-term vision is to decarbonise chemical processes to build a business case for the energy transition and enable a better, greener chemical industry. 


How?