Singapore : Neocrete, a New Zealand-based company decarbonising concrete production, has raised US$3.5 million in a funding round led by returning investor WavemakerVentures, with participation from Icehouse. Ventures and new investor Catalytic Capital for Climate and Health (C3H), a catalytic vehicle of Temasek Trust. The round follows Neocrete’s latest commercial success in Brunei, where its additives have been proven at scale to cut both the carbon and cost of concrete production in the Muara Port redevelopment, the country’s largest port.
Founded in 2018, Neocrete develops additives that enable abundant, low-carbon, low-performance materials such as poor-quality fly ash and volcanic ash to replace 30-50% of the cement in concrete. The additive lowers the embodied carbon and cost of concrete while maintaining strength, durability and workability, addressing key commercial and technical constraints to scaling lower-carbon concrete. The investment will support Neocrete’s next phase of growth, including expansion into European and US markets, and continued commercial deployment across Southeast Asia, where its technology is being used commercially in Brunei. This will give concrete makers the opportunity to reduce carbon as well as cost, without significant capital expenditure, while maintaining performance.
Tackling the Built Environment’s Emissions Challenge: Proven at Scale in Major Infrastructure
With the buildings and construction sector accounting for 37% of global emissions,1 and cement manufacturing alone responsible for around 8%,2 decarbonising this industry is critical to achieving climate targets as demand for construction materials continues to rise, a challenge Neocrete’s additives are designed to solve. Brunei’s largest ready-mix concrete supplier, Readymix Brunei, began piloting. Neocrete’s additives in 2025 to make a locally available waste ash, previously dumped due to its poor performance, into an effective cement substitute. Boosted by Neocrete, Readymix Brunei is now using this ash to replace 30% of the cement in commercial projects, pouring 3,700 m³ to date, cutting embodied carbon by 25% and avoiding around 215 tonnes of CO2, while saving nearly US$20,000. (Refer to factsheet for more details.) The redevelopment of Muara Port, Brunei’s primary port, will mark Neocrete’s largest deployment to date, with around 65,000 m³ of Neocrete concrete forecast to be poured, projected savings of approximately US$300,000, and 5,200 tonnes of CO₂ avoided. Neocrete’s performance in Brunei is independently verified by ABCi, the country’s Building and Construction Industry Control Authority, across concrete grades G25 to G50.
“Neocrete enables us to reduce the cost and carbon of our concrete while delivering a superior product performance for our customers,” said Nick Cocks, CEO of Readymix Brunei. “We are now scaling the use of Neocrete through all our operations.” “Globally, we’ve found customers are willing to pay exactly net zero to achieve net zero,” said Zarina Alexander, Neocrete’s CEO and co-founder. “Green premiums do not work in the concrete industry. In Brunei, by economically boosting the performance of abundant, low-quality materials, we’ve now proven that it’s possible for concrete makers to cut carbon and cost, with no trade-offs.”
Impact at Scale: a Key Factor for New and Returning Investors
Neocrete’s ability to scale fast, while reducing carbon and cost, has attracted global
investors. C3H’s entry into this round reflects its focus on scaling solutions in hard-to-abate
sectors, where catalytic capital can help bridge early-stage risks and accelerate broader market adoption. Beyond capital, C3H will support Neocrete through connections to partners across the Temasek Trust Collective and the broader climate solutions sector to support commercial deployment and expansion. “Decarbonising concrete is an urgent and difficult challenge in a hard-to-abate sector. Neocrete stands out because of its reduced carbon emission footprint, lower cost, and is a higher performing alternative to conventional cement, which helps to address a key barrier to commercial deployment,” said Ryan Tan, Head of C3H. “We see strong potential for Neocrete to enable meaningful emissions reductions in
the built environment.”
The continued participation from returning investors Wavemaker Ventures and Icehouse Ventures also reflects confidence in Neocrete’s technology and commercial opportunity. Global angel investors Doug Parker and Steve Melhuish have also doubled down on their early investments. “Since Neocrete’s seed round two years ago, the company has continued to execute against its commercial and technical milestones. Its technology has been proven to deliver up to 30% lower cement usage, translating into meaningful cost savings and margin improvement without compromising strength. These aren’t just results from lab experiments. Neocrete’s successful commercial deployment with Readymix Brunei is proof of this. This has enabled Neocrete to build a strong pipeline of customers from across Europe, Asia and the United States,” said Paul Santos, Cofounder and Managing Partner of Wavemaker Partners. “We backed Neocrete early because we believed they had developed a solution that could transform one of the world’s largest industries without requiring producers to fundamentally change the way they operate. Since our initial investment, the team has continued to execute against that vision, reinforcing our conviction and our belief in Neocrete’s potential to become a globally transformative company,” said Bex Gidall, Principal, Icehouse Ventures.
Matt Kennedy-Good, Co-founder and President of Neocrete, said: “Neocrete’s mission is to make low-carbon concrete the default choice, by making it perform better and cost less.” He added: “We are grateful for the support of our investors and industry partners. Concrete change does not happen with technology alone, it requires people, and we are very lucky to have an amazing team behind Neocrete.”
