Mati Carbon is a Houston-based carbon removal organization. It uses enhanced rock weathering, a process in which crushed basalt is applied to farmland so that carbon dioxide reacts with water and minerals and becomes bicarbonate.[1][2]
In 2025, Mati Carbon received the $50 million prize in the XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition.[1][3]
History
Mati Carbon was founded in 2022 by Shantanu Agarwal.[4][5]
The organization is structured as a nonprofit.[3][6]
Mati Carbon's work is connected to research by Yale geochemist Noah Planavsky.[6]
The organization developed its carbon removal work around enhanced rock weathering on farmland.[1][2][5]
Technology
Mati Carbon uses enhanced rock weathering to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.[7] The process involves applying crushed basalt to cropland.[1][2][5]
When basalt interacts with water and carbon dioxide, the carbon dioxide is converted into bicarbonate.[3][5][8] The bicarbonate can move through water into rivers, aquifers, or oceans.[3][5] The process also releases minerals from the rock into the soil.[5][8]
Mati Carbon uses soil sampling, geotagging, transport data, and software-based tracking to measure and document its carbon removal process.[5][8]
Operations
Mati Carbon began by applying basalt to rice paddies in India.[5]
By 2025, Mati Carbon had work involving farms in India, Zambia, and Tanzania.[3][5] Farmers do not pay to have basalt applied to their fields.[5]
Mati Carbon's revenue model is based on the sale of carbon removal credits.[5][8]
XPRIZE Carbon Removal
In April 2025, Mati Carbon received the $50 million prize in the XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition.[1][2][3][6][9]
The competition was launched in 2021 and included 1,300 teams from 88 countries.[1][6]
The competition required teams to demonstrate a system for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or oceans and storing it.[5][6]
Mati Carbon and three runner-up teams met the competition requirement of removing at least 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide during the final year of the competition.[2][10]
References
- "$50 million prize funded by Musk foundation goes to carbon-removal company that helps Indian farmers". AP News. 2025-04-23. Retrieved 2026-06-05.
- "Musk-backed XPrize gives $100 million to carbon removal start-ups". The Washington Post. 2025-04-23. Archived from the original on 2025-08-22. Retrieved 2026-06-05.
- "How XPrize Winner Mati Carbon Is Helping Farmers—And the Planet".
- Guzmán, Andrea (2025-04-24). "Houston startup wins $50M from Elon Musk-funded contest". Chron. Retrieved 2026-06-05.
- "Mati Carbon Wins $50M XPrize for Carbon Removal - IEEE Spectrum". spectrum.ieee.org. Retrieved 2026-06-05.
- "Yale-related nonprofit wins global carbon removal prize | Yale News". news.yale.edu. 2025-04-23. Retrieved 2026-06-05.
- Peters, Adele (2025-04-23). "This Houston startup just won $50 million from Elon Musk's XPrize for Carbon Removal". Fast Company. Archived from the original on 2025-07-23. Retrieved 2026-06-05.
- Giles, Jim (2025-04-23). "$50 million XPRIZE winner has a plan to help small farmers remove carbon". Trellis. Retrieved 2026-06-05.
- "Elon Musk bankrolled a $100M climate contest. Now critics say it's 'tainted.'". POLITICO. 2025-04-23. Retrieved 2026-06-05.
- Patel, Prachi (2025-01-21). "And the XPrize Carbon Removal winners are . . ". Chemical & Engineering News. Retrieved 2026-06-05.