Circular Solutions for Heavy Industry with Cocoon

Eliot Brooks is the CEO and co-founder of Cocoon. 

Cocoon is driving the industrial circular economy, starting with a process that helps the steel industry continue supplying a critical feedstock for cement production. This feedstock is increasingly at risk as steelmaking transitions from coal-based blast furnaces to lower-emission electric arc furnaces. 

Cocoon was founded on the realization that as industries decarbonize, certain process changes disrupt circular supply chains. The connection between the slag byproduct of steelmaking and the demands of cement production is their starting focus. Earlier this year, Cocoon announced a $5.4 million pre-seed round led by Wireframe, Gigascale, SOSV, and Celsius Industries.

In this episode, we cover: 

• [1:33] Introduction to Cocoon
• [3:13] The challenge steel decarbonization poses for the cement industry
• [9:56] Cocoon's process for transforming steel slag into a cementitious material
• [10:51] Eliot’s background and journey to working on this technology
• [15:46] Cocoon's business model and go-to-market strategy
• [19:43] Decarbonization pathways for steel and the role of electric arc furnaces
• [21:10] Cocoon's current technology readiness and near-term deployment plans
• [22:05] Building industrial expertise at Cocoon
• [25:07] Comparing the US and Europe as initial target markets
• [27:57] Cocoon's recent $5.4 million pre-seed funding round
• [30:00] Eliot’s perspective on bringing expertise from other industries to address challenges in steelmaking

Episode recorded on Nov 20, 2024 (Published on Jan 16, 2025)

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant