TORONTO, April 23, 2025 – Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is proud to announce that three graduates of its program have been named among the winners of the $100 million XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition, one of the world’s most ambitious efforts to catalyze climate innovation at gigaton scale.
The CDL Alumni winners include:
- 2nd Runner-Up – $8M: Vaulted Deep (USA), for its work in geologic sequestration
- 3rd Runner-Up – $5M: UNDO (UK/Canada), for its work in enhanced rock weathering
- XFACTOR Ocean – $1M: Planetary (Canada), for its innovation in ocean alkalinity enhancement
Vaulted Deep and UNDO are graduates of the CDL Carbon Removal Stream, a specialized program launched last year in partnership with XPRIZE to support breakthrough ventures with the potential to remove billions of tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Planetary graduated from the CDL Oceans program in 2022. Mati Carbon, an innovator in enhanced rock weathering also participated in the CDL Carbon Removal Stream and was recognized as the first prize winner of the XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition, receiving $50 million.
The nine-month CDL program brings together science-based startups from around the world with CDL’s global network of mentors, industry leaders, scientists, and investors to enhance the commercialization of their technologies.
The CDL Carbon Removal Stream operated across the CDL-Toronto and CDL-Paris sites, uniting expertise from North America and Europe to foster scalable climate solutions. In partnership with XPRIZE and in collaboration with two institutions from the global CDL network: University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and HEC Paris, CDL helped accelerate a cohort of 28 ventures selected from XPRIZE’s top 100 carbon removal contenders. The prize itself helped galvanize over 1,300 teams from 88 countries to develop and deploy new technologies and approaches to carbon removal across four tracks – air, rocks, ocean, and land.
“Gigaton-scale carbon removal will require the construction and efficient operation of massive new supply chains,” says Ian Burgess, CDL Mentor and co-founder of Validere. “Over the past year the Vaulted team has demonstrated that they understand the challenge ahead of them well, and are able to execute.”
The winning teams, selected from 20 impressive finalists across 11 countries, each successfully removed more than 1,000 net tonnes of CO₂ in the final year of the competition, meeting XPRIZE’s bold demonstration requirements, the first step towards scaling sustainably to remove billions of tonnes globally.
“We are proud to have partnered with XPRIZE on this bold initiative, and grateful to our CDL Mentors who supported several of today’s winners,” said Sonia Sennik, CEO of Creative Destruction Lab. “Through the XPRIZE CDL Carbon Removal program, these ventures showcased that carbon removal is not only feasible, but commercially viable. Congratulations to all of the teams.”
About Creative Destruction Lab
Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is a nonprofit organization that delivers an objectives-based program for massively scalable, seed-stage, science- and technology-based companies. Its nine-month program allows founders to learn from experienced entrepreneurs, increasing their likelihood of success. Founded by Professor Ajay Agrawal in 2012 at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, the program has expanded and now has 12 sites across six countries: Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, Halifax, Paris, Madison, Seattle, Estonia, Berlin, Melbourne, and College Station. Learn more at creativedestructionlab.com.
About XPRIZE
XPRIZE is the recognized global leader in designing and executing large scale competitions to solve humanity’s greatest challenges. For 30 years, our unique model has democratized crowd-sourced innovation and scientifically scalable solutions that accelerate a more equitable and abundant future. Donate, learn more, and co-architect a world of abundance with us at XPRIZE.org.
