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Chemicals are in everything around us: from soaps and detergents to cosmetics and toothpaste.
While chemicals are a fundamental part of the products and materials we rely on everyday, they’re far from green.
For over a century, the petrochemical industry has produced chemicals using crude oil and natural gas, contributing roughly 4% of the world’s direct greenhouse gas emissions.
Again, a Copenhagen-based startup, was founded to create a cheaper and more climate-friendly method of producing chemicals. It captures CO2 from industrial waste or chemical plants and puts it directly into bioreactors. Using acetogenic bacteria, Again ferments the CO2 with hydrogen into commercial-grade chemicals like acetate and acetic acid that are sold to manufacturers.
The products are identical to those produced by fossil fuels, yet their emissions are 80% lower.
The startup was founded in 2021 as a spin-off from the Technical University of Denmark, based on research by Torbjørn Ølshøj Jensen and Professor Alex Nielsen. Jensen became cofounder and chief scientist of the company, joining forces with Max Kufner, who previously worked as an investor at early stage VC firm Atlantic Labs and took up the job as Again’s CEO.
“We’re always looking for startups who can fundamentally change huge industries,” says Jan Miczaika, partner at HV Capital. “Again has chosen the already large market of base chemicals, but in the future it could move into specialty chemicals and turn this industry on its head.”
Chemicals are in everything around us: from soaps and detergents to cosmetics and toothpaste.
While chemicals are a fundamental part of the products and materials we rely on everyday, they’re far from green.
For over a century, the petrochemical industry has produced chemicals using crude oil and natural gas, contributing roughly 4% of the world’s direct greenhouse gas emissions.
Again, a Copenhagen-based startup, was founded to create a cheaper and more climate-friendly method of producing chemicals. It captures CO2 from industrial waste or chemical plants and puts it directly into bioreactors. Using acetogenic bacteria, Again ferments the CO2 with hydrogen into commercial-grade chemicals like acetate and acetic acid that are sold to manufacturers.
The products are identical to those produced by fossil fuels, yet their emissions are 80% lower.
The startup was founded in 2021 as a spin-off from the Technical University of Denmark, based on research by Torbjørn Ølshøj Jensen and Professor Alex Nielsen. Jensen became cofounder and chief scientist of the company, joining forces with Max Kufner, who previously worked as an investor at early stage VC firm Atlantic Labs and took up the job as Again’s CEO.
“We’re always looking for startups who can fundamentally change huge industries,” says Jan Miczaika, partner at HV Capital. “Again has chosen the already large market of base chemicals, but in the future it could move into specialty chemicals and turn this industry on its head.”
In the last five years, Again has gone from a research idea to a fully-fledged green chemical manufacturer.
The company opened its first fully operational facility on the outskirts of Copenhagen in 2023, where it converts up to one ton per day of waste CO2 into liquid chemicals. In 2025, Again opened the second plant in Houston, Texas. The company decided to expand to the US given the abundance of hydrogen available which, alongside CO2, can be sourced locally.
In April 2024, Again secured a landmark ten-year offtake agreement with HELM AG, one of the world’s largest independent chemical distributors, for 50,000 tonnes per year of low-carbon acetic acid. HELM AG is to become one of Again’s major distribution partners at its new industrial facility in Texas.
“For the next site, location is critical - both in terms of where supply comes from and where demand is physically concentrated and who is nearby,” says Jan. “The Houston area is one option considered by the company, as it’s one of the largest chemical agglomerations in the world, but they are also looking at sites in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.”
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“What I’m most excited about now is continuing to scale the technology. So much of what we do as VCs is intangible. It’s slides, it’s numbers, it’s decks, it’s presentations and management. But visiting the Copenhagen facility, interacting with the crew who are just a group of incredibly committed and hardworking people — and then seeing that vision come to life, is a very cool result. It made my work feel meaningful in a new way"
Jan Miczaika
Partner, HV
Solutions like Again’s are becoming strategically important as oil supplies continue to be threatened by war and geopolitical tensions.
When Iran effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz — one of the world’s busiest oil shipping channels — after the US and Israel attacked the country on 28 February 2026, supply shortages followed and oil prices surged.
‘Many countries, especially in Asia, have realised their dependency on oil and gas is critical to their industry,’ says Jan. ‘Solutions like Again could provide an alternative by turning CO2 waste, instead of oil, into the materials their industries rely on.”
Looking ahead, Again must prove both its technology and economic model work at scale in order to secure funding from traditionally risk-averse infrastructure investors to build bigger plants.
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Copenhagen-based startup Again turns CO2 into base chemicals for products from plastics to textiles. Using a process similar to brewing beer, it ferments carbon dioxide and hydrogen with acetogenic bacteria to produce acetic acid and acetate, which is then sold to manufacturers. Founded in Europe, Again is expanding to the United States with plans to open two commercial plants in the near future.