Caravel Bio, which engineers industrial-strength proteins, announced its participation in the Shell GameChanger program. It received funding to explore its biocatalyst technology for cheaper, more efficient carbon capture. Since joining in July 2025, Caravel has hit a key milestone: boosting enzyme stability 12-fold in industrial conditions.
Traditional carbon capture has struggled to be cost-effective at scale. Despite decades of effort and billions in subsidies, many projects underperform or remain small due to high costs.
Federal policy continues to support its potential. In July 2025, the government kept an $85/ton credit for carbon capture, extended to carbon used in enhanced oil recovery and products. This incentivizes deployment, but only if costs drop significantly.
High energy use is the main cost factor. Many use amine solvents to capture CO2. But amines require a lot of heat to release pure CO2, making the process expensive.
Caravel’s platform offers an alternative: using potassium bicarbonate. Replacing amines with bicarbonate could cut energy needs and reduce costs.
Potassium bicarbonate’s potential has been known for decades. But effective use depends on robust enzymes, which are currently too costly for large-scale use.
Caravel aims to make high-performance enzymes affordable. Trevor Nicks, CEO, explained: “While others teach enzymes to swim, we build them a boat and train them to sail. Our tech helps enzymes do more.”
Caravel launched in October 2025 after receiving a $7.8 million NSF grant. The funding recognizes its innovative products in DNA synthesis, animal health, and chemical manufacturing.
Its platform unifies protein discovery and delivery, speeding up development and reducing costs. It combines cell-free protein synthesis with bacterial spore display to accelerate directed evolution. This allows testing millions of protein variants quickly and training machine learning models.
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