Builders Vision invested in CREW’s Series A, marking the platform’s first investment in CDR technology.
Builders Vision is an investment and philanthropy platform that catalyzes scalable solutions in the food and agriculture, energy, and oceans sectors. This investment in CREW points to something Builders Vision sees across its sectors: the largest opportunities for scale often come from solutions built to work within existing infrastructure — like wastewater treatment.
CREW’s technology accelerates a naturally occurring process in Earth’s water cycle. In nature, minerals like calcium carbonate or silicate rocks react with the billions of tonnes of CO2 that flow through Earth’s water cycle (e.g., in rivers, oceans, and soils), capturing that CO2 as stable alkalinity.
CREW has adapted this natural process for another important part of the water cycle: the water that flows through our wastewater treatment systems.
By precisely dosing locally-sourced calcium carbonate to wastewater treatment plants, CREW optimizes wastewater treatment while permanently removing carbon dioxide and superpollutants — reducing pollutants that make their way into the ocean.
The calcium carbonate converts the CO2 produced by microbial breakdown of sewage in wastewater reactors into stable bicarbonate ions (a safe, more stable, non-greenhouse-gas form of CO2) that flows downstream to rivers and oceans, where it remains safely stored for thousands of years.
CREW’s deployments at multiple facilities across the US and Europe are already delivering measurable results. Plants report better biological treatment, improved sludge settling, and reduced chemical usage.
CREW lets utilities get more out of their existing infrastructure, deferring costly infrastructure upgrades. One leading utility, HRSD, is considering deferring $400 million in planned capital upgrades based on CREW’s impact.
CREW is also driving community-level impact. With compliance regulations becoming more stringent as funding is constrained, CREW offers a solution that can ultimately reduce the burden on ratepayers.
CREW sat down with Chris Wu, Vice President, Investments at Builders Vision, to discuss:
- How a company working in wastewater can be a gateway to oceanic health
- Ways operational efficiency aligns with carbon removal at scale
- How CREW’s technology can reduce cost and improve efficiency for wastewater utilities
Read CREW’s interview with Chris Wu
What made CREW a compelling investment opportunity for Builders Vision?
Chris Wu: CREW perfectly aligns with the core pillars we look for in a successful CDR venture:
- Rigorous measurement, reporting and verification (MRV)
- Infrastructure compatibility
- A resilient business model
What really stood out is how CREW’s technology drops right into existing closed-loop wastewater infrastructure and delivers significant operational cost savings that represents a strong business case for utilities.
One of the biggest barriers to adoption for most sustainable solutions is infrastructure compatibility, and most plants can’t afford multi-million-dollar expansions.
By working within a closed loop, CREW can verify the efficiency and accuracy of the plant’s reduced reliance on costly chemicals as well as the amount of carbon being removed with unmatched precision.
We were impressed because CREW is solving a specific, high-cost operational problem for utilities while simultaneously establishing a high-integrity standard for carbon removal.
How does CREW fit into the bigger picture of what you’re doing at Builders Vision?
Chris Wu: We see a clear connection between CREW’s technology and the health of our ocean systems, we also see a vital link between how we manage wastewater and our broader infrastructure.
One example we are seeing is the massive surge in infrastructure development — especially with the energy and water demands of data centers — and we have to find ways to make that growth sustainable.
CREW is a standout example of a scientifically rigorous, commercially viable carbon removal solution. Hyperscalers building AI infrastructure are already exploring co-location opportunities with CREW projects as part of broader water sustainability strategies.
Plus, the additional alkalinity from CREW’s solution serves as a buffer against ocean acidification.
By optimizing wastewater treatment processes, CREW reduces nutrient runoff that would otherwise flow into rivers and oceans, contributing to harmful algal blooms, deoxygenation, and degraded waterways.
The environmental and economic consequences of nutrient pollution are quantifiable, and wastewater operators are the stewards of this potential prevention.
CREW is demonstrating that you can take an existing industrial process and turn it into a platform for both efficiency and coastal resilience.
At Builders Vision, we believe a resilient ocean, energy infrastructure, and food system ultimately support a resilient economy. Not only does CREW’s work with wastewater plants have downstream effects in our oceans, CREW hits on multiple intersections across all three of the sectors that Builders Vision focuses on.
What gives you the most confidence in CREW’s trajectory?
Chris Wu: In addition to the technology itself, what gives me confidence is the speed with which CREW has been able to land initial projects with wastewater treatment plant operators and also expand to multiple sites.
The utilities CREW has partnered with are seeing results that allow them to confidently consider deferring hundreds of millions of dollars in massive, multi-year capital upgrade projects.
Seeing the CREW team improve water treatment performance while delivering verified carbon removal proves they have a solution the market is demanding.
Looking ahead
CREW raised $25 million across equity and non-dilutive capital, including an oversubscribed Series A led by Burnt Island Ventures with participation from AP Ventures, Sony Innovation Fund, Builders Vision, Idemitsu Ventures, New York Ventures, Kibo Invest, and others.
With that support, CREW is working to hire additional experts, partner with additional wastewater treatment plants, build analytics capabilities for plant operators, and further scale its MRV.
For wastewater operators, carbon credit buyers, and investors, the message is clear: solutions like CREW that work within existing systems, deliver measurable value to multiple stakeholders, and address climate change at industrial scale are moving from theory to practice.