A California-based startup aiming to overhaul how the world manufactures essential materials by using carbon emissions as its primary feedstock has secured $7.5 million in new funding alongside commercial commitments exceeding $60 million.
Rubi Laboratories, founded by twin sisters Neeka and Dr. Leila Mashouf, announced the investment round was co-led by AP Ventures and FH One Investments. It saw continued backing from Talis Capital, CMPC Ventures, H&M Group, Understorey Ventures, and angel investors. This fresh capital, building on earlier seed rounds totalling over $13 million, will accelerate the company’s move towards industrial-scale demonstration of its unique technology.
The Symbiotic Manufacturing Vision
At its core, Rubi’s proposition is a fundamental shift: treating carbon dioxide not as a climate-harming waste product, but as a valuable raw material. The company’s proprietary system uses a cell-free cascade of specialised enzymes to convert CO₂ directly into complex materials like cellulose-based polymers under mild conditions.
This approach, the founders argue, addresses crippling issues in traditional manufacturing. Industrial processes are responsible for approximately 30% of global CO₂ emissions, according to context from the research briefing, and often involve extensive deforestation, high water use, and energy-intensive methods. The fashion industry—Rubi’s initial target—is the third most polluting supply chain globally, with raw materials accounting for an estimated 75% of its emissions.
“We founded Rubi to address a fundamental gap in how industries manufacture essential materials,” Neeka Mashouf, the company’s CEO, told the original source. She detailed that conventional processes demand massive fixed infrastructure and create supply chain fragility.
In contrast, Rubi’s cell-free enzymatic platform allows for modular production units that, the company claims, require up to ten times less capital expenditure than traditional infrastructure. These units can theoretically be deployed anywhere, enabling localised “on-shored” manufacturing that cuts transport dependency. The technology has been tested to work with direct air capture sources, where CO₂ concentrations are very low.
Scientific Pedigree and Commercial Momentum
The Mashouf sisters, who began publishing scientific research on artificial photosynthesis at age 15, launched Rubi in 2021. Neeka, holding degrees in materials engineering and business from UC Berkeley, leads as CEO. Dr. Leila Mashouf, the CTO, pursued medical studies at Harvard with a focus on bioengineering.
Their scientific approach has attracted significant validation beyond venture capital. Rubi has received a $969,961 Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the US National Science Foundation to scale its carbon-to-cellulose technology. The company also won an H&M Global Change Award and was named to the Norrsken Impact/100 list of top impact startups.
Commercially, the company reports a breakout year in 2025, more than doubling its partnerships from seven to 15. It has secured multi-year offtake term sheets worth over $60 million with leading fashion brands and manufacturers. Partners include major names like H&M, Patagonia’s Tin Shed Ventures (an earlier investor), Walmart, Reformation, GANNI, and Nuuly.
A specific collaboration with Walmart aims to explore integrating Rubi’s technology into the retailer’s supply chain for prototype apparel. The company has also completed fibre performance testing with multiple collaborators and launched pilot programmes in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) and aerospace sectors.
Standing Apart in a Emerging Field
Rubi positions its cell-free enzyme platform as a distinct advantage over other companies exploring carbon capture and utilisation. In a competitive analysis, CEO Neeka Mashouf contrasted their method with others. She stated that while LanzaTech uses biological systems to process CO₂, it requires significant infrastructure and has higher energy costs, resulting in lower conversion yields.
Similarly, she said companies like Twelve and Fairbrics, which focus on synthetic polyester, are constrained by energy-intensive processes and high capital expenditure. Rubi claims its cell-free biocatalysis avoids the energy needed to sustain living cells in fermentation, allowing for nearly 100% conversion of feedstock CO₂ and markedly lower energy use.
The company has bolstered its scientific advisory board with experts in biocatalysis and enzyme engineering, including Dr. Michael Jewett, Dr. Richard Fox, and Dr. Alex Patist. Machine learning-driven enzyme engineering is used to continuously improve performance and reduce costs.
The Road to Industrial Scale
The new funding is earmarked for scaling the production system to industrial demonstration, expanding the product pipeline, and enhancing enzyme performance. Kevin Eggers, Partner at lead investor AP Ventures, said Rubi had “reached an important transition point, with its technology now demonstrated at pilot scale and clear demand emerging across multiple end markets.”
Looking ahead, Neeka Mashouf outlined a five-year plan to advance to industrial demonstration-scale systems and operate full-scale production facilities with global partners. The ambition extends beyond textiles into CPG, aerospace, and chemicals, with the goal of creating “an entirely new market category: products derived from carbon waste.”
The founders have gained personal recognition alongside the company, with Neeka selected to speak at the World Economic Forum in Davos and named to the 2025 MIT 35 Under 35 list. Both sisters were featured among just ten ‘Tomorrow Shapers 2025’ by the European Patent Office, underscoring the disruptive potential of their patented approach to turning a universal pollutant into the foundation of modern manufacturing.
