What Circea does

Circea SA is a privately held Swiss cleantech company founded in January 2024 and headquartered in Mies, Vaud, that captures, purifies, dehydrates and liquefies biogenic CO2 released as a side-stream from industrial fermentation and biogas processes. The company installs proprietary piping systems directly on customer fermentation tanks or biogas separation units, bringing the CO2 to technical or food-grade purity with full source-to-cylinder traceability, and redistributes it regionally under the BioCO2 sub-brand to beverages, agriculture, food processing and, prospectively, e-fuel customers.

The core commercial offering is an end-to-end CO2 Recovery & Valorisation service described as subscription/recurring in nature, complemented by professional services for CO2 consulting and biogas pilot project design. GTM is sales-led and B2B, targeting breweries, wineries and biogas operators with personalised feasibility analyses and direct system installation. The first commercial reference is La Nébuleuse craft brewery (commissioned August 2025, capturing up to 800 kg of bio-CO2 per week); a second engagement with Schenk, Switzerland's largest wine producer, was conducted as field tests during the 2025 harvest with a full installation pending.

Circea operates with a team of 1–10, is led by CEO Jean-Valentin de Saussure alongside co-founders Elise Beaufils and Yves Loerincik, with Prof. Suren Erkman (UNIL/EPFL) as senior advisor and Benjamin Herbreteau (formerly Veolia) as Technical Lead. The company is backed by Gebert Rüf Stiftung, La Forge EPFL Innovation Park, SIG Fonds Gaz Vitale and Canton de Vaud SPEI, among others. No equity funding rounds, patents, or certifications are disclosed, and revenue is not publicly reported; the business model relies on recurring service revenue tied to installed CO2 recovery capacity and regional offtake logistics.

Name

Circea

Legal name

Circea SA

Website

https://circea.ch

Company type

Private

Founded year

2024

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Circea is a Swiss cleantech company that installs capture, purification and liquefaction systems at breweries, wineries and biogas plants to convert waste biogenic CO2 into food-grade or technical-grade BioCO2 distributed regionally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Industrial CO2 Recovery & Valorization

NAICS

Industrial Gas Manufacturing (32512), Chemical Manufacturing (325), Other Basic Inorganic Chemical Manufacturing (325180)

SIC

Industrial Inorganic Chemicals (2810), Industrial & Commercial Fans & Blowers & Air Purifing Equip (3564)

akta.pro primary industry

Gas Processing Plant Equipment & Skids (Separators, Heat Exchangers, Turboexpanders) (EUAAABAH)

akta.pro secondary industry

Food & Beverage Process & CIP/Sanitation Chemicals (IMAEAJAK)

Keywords

• Biogenic CO2 capture
• CO2 valorization services
• Industrial carbon recovery
• Fermentation CO2 purification
• Biogas carbon capture

Headquarters

HQ city

Vaud

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. CO2 Recovery & Valorisation Services: Connecting recovery, purification, and liquefaction systems to customer fermentation tanks with full logistics management for high-quality biogenic CO2 valorisation
2. Consulting & CO2 Expertise: Helping emitting industries understand, manage, and capitalize on their CO2 emissions through source analysis and valorisation solution identification
3. Biogas Pilot Projects: Designing and implementing pilot projects for CO2 valorisation at biomethane plants with innovative recovery solutions

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Circea installs CO2 capture, purification, dehydration, and liquefaction systems directly at customer fermentation tanks (breweries, wineries) and biogas upgrading plants. It collects biogenic CO2 side-streams, brings them to technical or food-grade purity, stores them in certified cylinders, and manages regional logistics to deliver the CO2 to nearby customers in beverages, agriculture, food processing, and future e-fuel applications.

Product overview

Circea offers a portfolio of biogenic CO₂ valorization solutions centered on its BioCO₂ product. The core offering is an end-to-end CO₂ Recovery & Valorisation service that captures CO₂ from fermentation tanks at breweries, wineries, and biogas plants, purifies it to food-grade standards, and distributes it regionally. This is complemented by Consulting & CO₂ Expertise services for advisory support, and Biogas Pilot Projects for pilot-scale deployment at biomethane facilities. Together, these form a integrated circular economy solution for turning biogenic CO₂ waste streams into valuable resources.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• BioCO₂: The company's biogenic CO₂ product brand — locally sourced and sustainably produced CO₂ from fermentation and biogas processes.

Products and services

• BioCO2 Biogenic CO2 captured from industrial fermentation and biogas processes, purified to technical or food-grade standards, and distributed to regional customers for applications in beverages, agriculture, food processing, and e-fuels.
• CO2 Recovery & Valorisation End-to-end CO2 recovery service connecting capture, purification, and liquefaction systems to customer fermentation tanks, with full logistics management for valorizing biogenic CO2.
• Consulting & CO2 Expertise Advisory service helping emitting industries understand, manage, and capitalize on their CO2 emissions through source analysis, valorisation solution identification, and circular value chain design.
• Biogas Pilot Projects Design and implementation of pilot projects for CO2 valorisation at biomethane plants, integrating innovative recovery solutions from the biogas separation process.

Quantifiable outcome

• Up to 800 kg of bio-CO2 captured per week per installation

Named customers2 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• La Forge EPFL Innovation ParkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEPFL Innovation Park startup incubation and hosting facility; supports startup development and growth
• Bern University of Applied SciencesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partner with bioenergy laboratory; Jean-Valentin de Saussure previously worked as scientific collaborator at BFH-HAFL
• Tech4RegenminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCleantech platform supporting regeneration technologies and sustainable innovation
• CleantechAlpsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCleantech cluster organisation promoting sustainable technologies in the Alpine region

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Nippon Gases: European-headquartered industrial gas player (formerly part of Praxair) supplying CO2 and other gases across multiple sectors. Comparable as a competing CO2 supplier with similar downstream beverage and food-industry customers, though serving different geographies than Circea's Switzerland-anchored footprint.
• Air Products: Global industrial gas and hydrogen company with established CO2 supply businesses and active CCU/synthetic-fuel initiatives. Comparable as both a competitor in CO2 supply and as a likely future participant in biogenic CO2 for e-fuels, the same downstream Circea is targeting.
• Linde: Global industrial gas giant producing and distributing bulk CO2 to beverage, food, and industrial customers across Europe. Circea competes for the same downstream CO2 offtake relationships, but Linde sources CO2 primarily as a by-product of large-scale ammonia and natural gas processing rather than from fermentation.
• Air Liquide: Major industrial gas company with established biogenic CO2 programmes and biogas/biomethane activity in Europe. Comparable as a competing CO2 supplier serving breweries, food processing, and increasingly CCU customers, though Air Liquide operates at a vastly larger scale and broader portfolio.
• Messer Group: Family-owned industrial gas major active in CO2 recovery and supply across Europe and the Americas. Comparable as a competing merchant CO2 supplier with capabilities similar to Circea's installation and liquefaction work, but operating with broader geographic reach and customer concentration in industrial rather than fermentation sources.
• Carbogen Amcis: Swiss-headquartered specialty chemical/CDMO business using CO2 as a building block for pharmaceutical and fine-chemical manufacturing. Comparable as a Swiss CO2-utilising business serving similar industrial customer sophistication, though operating further downstream in specialty chemicals rather than beverage-grade CO2 supply.

Emerging players

• Heirloom Carbon: US DAC company using limestone-based capture technology to produce high-purity CO2 for permanent storage and industrial use. Comparable as an emerging CO2 capture-to-value startup, although Heirloom sources from air and focuses on storage/sequestration rather than fermentation valorization.
• CarbonCapture Inc. California-based DAC startup developing modular carbon capture systems for point-source and atmospheric CO2. Comparable as a category-adjacent CO2 capture technology company, though operating at different scale and with a different end-customer focus than Circea.
• Climeworks: Swiss direct air capture (DAC) startup operating commercial-scale CO2 capture plants and partnerships with end-users. Comparable as a Swiss-headquartered cleantech capturing and valorising CO2, though Climeworks sources from ambient air rather than fermentation/biogas streams.
• Infinium: US-based e-fuels company converting captured CO2 into synthetic fuels and chemicals (e-fuels, e-methanol, sustainable aviation fuel). Comparable because e-fuels are explicitly identified as a future valorisation pathway for Circea's biogenic CO2, making Infinium a downstream adjaciency rather than a head-to-head competitor today.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/circea-sa

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Circea