Our solution.
Simply limestone.
We envision a world where concrete buildings and roads are carbon-storing rather than carbon-emitting. If all portland cement was manufactured using algae-grown limestone as a feedstock material, 2 gigatons of carbon dioxide would no longer be pumped into the atmosphere and more than 250 million additional tons of carbon dioxide would be pulled out of the atmosphere and stored in these structures each year.
Our story.
Meet our founders.
Danielle Beatty, M.S.
CTO, Co-founder
Ph.D., University of Colorado (2024)
Sarah Williams, Ph.D.
CEO, Co-founder
Ph.D., University of Colorado
Wil V. Srubar III, Ph.D.
Co-founder
Ph.D., Stanford University
Our advisors.
Valued insights.
Catharina Alves-de-Souza, Ph.D.
Research Professor, University of North Carolina Wilmington
Ph.D., Université Pierre et Marie Curie
Michael Guarnieri, Ph.D.
Biological Conversion Platform Leader, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Ph.D., University of Colorado
Jed Dean, Ph.D.
TEM Interpretation and R&D Roadmap for Scale-up
Ph.D., Stanford University
Anne Banta
Strategic Messaging, Brand Identity, & Marketing
Wil V. Srubar III, Ph.D.
Co-founder
Ph.D., Stanford University
Wil is a co-founder and the acting Chief Technology Officer at Minus Materials. He is a materials scientist, structural engineer, inventor, and professor of engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. Wil has more than 15 years of research and commercialization experience at the intersection of biotechnology and the chemistry of construction materials. Since he finished his Ph.D. at Stanford, Wil has committed his professional career to achieving deep decarbonization of the construction industry through sustainable materials research by blurring the boundaries between the built environment and the natural world. Having already co-founded two other successful construction technology startups, Wil is no stranger to translating university research into practice. He is absolutely energized by Minus’ potential to lead the global construction industry’s transition to a low-carbon, nature-based economy.
Danielle Beatty, M.S.
CTO, Co-founder
Ph.D., University of Colorado (2024)
Danielle (Dani) is a co-founder and the Director of Cement Technology at Minus Materials. She is a materials scientist and engineer with eight years of experience in materials science research, the last three of which have been dedicated to cement and concrete materials research. Dani is committed to sustainability and decarbonization of materials, specifically construction materials. Dani is an advocate for interdisciplinary solutions to sustainable development, specifically Minus Material’s approach combining biology, civil engineering, and materials science. She will be finishing her Ph.D. in materials science and engineering in 2024 from CU Boulder, where she is studying the use of biologically produced limestone in cement and concrete. Dani’s studies include evaluating key performance metrics of Minus Materials’ limestone product as a filler in ASTM C595 Type IL portland limestone cement and as a raw feedstock material for ASTM C150 Type I/II portland cement clinker production.
Sarah Williams, Ph.D.
CEO, Co-founder
Ph.D., University of Colorado
10+ years in cement and concrete research
Sarah is a co-founder and the Chief Executive Officer at Minus Materials. She is a civil engineer with over ten years of experience in structural engineering and concrete materials research. Sarah was previously a Research Civil Engineer at the US Army Corps of Engineers Research and Development Center (ERDC) where she evaluated the durability of existing concrete infrastructure and performed basic and applied research on novel infrastructure materials. Sarah is tremendously passionate about decarbonizing infrastructure materials (of which concrete is the most used on earth!), and she is also a proponent of integrating biological phenomena to improve the properties of manmade infrastructure. Since completing her Ph.D. in materials science from CU Boulder, Sarah has been focused on advancing Minus Materials’ mission and technology to grow carbon-negative limestone using photosynthetic algae. Sarah is also actively engaged with the concrete and cement ecosystem, AECs, and owners to align with their needs and requirements. These activities include ongoing pilot projects with a leading owner/developer in the construction space.