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We want to create a world where buildings store CO₂ and contribute to a stable climate.

ecoLocked was formed from the strong desire in each of us to contribute to climate change mitigation - and to do it fast, and where it’s needed most. Knowing that the pace of industrial emission reduction is insufficient, we realized that the 1.5° target can only be reached with the additional fast scale-up of carbon removal technologies.

In September 2021, we started building eLocked with the aim of providing scalable end applications for carbon insetting in buildings, with maximum impact and performance for the construction industry. One of our core beliefs is that environmental impact and economic value can not only be reconciled but actually reinforce each other in sustainable value chains.

In 2022, we raised initial public and venture funding and opened our own laboratory and manufacturing space near Berlin. In 2023, we validated our solution on a commercial scale with multiple industry partners and released our first products for precast applications. In 2024 and 2025, we raised ~ €4 million from investors, obtained > €1 million in public funding, set up our standalone EBC-certified processing plant, obtained CE certification acc. to EN 12878 for our first CO2-negative building material, eLM Zero, and developed our Carbon-to-Concrete Platform to roll out our solution globally with local partners.

Throughout the years, we have built up a stellar team of multidisciplinary experts with a passion for climate impact and tons of concrete experience

Join us

Meet the Team

Mario is an economist and passionate about harmonizing business and nature - using the power of technology. He holds a PhD in Corporate Finance/Sustainable Business and spent six years at BCG, working on industry decarbonization and biodiversity. In his free time, Mario enjoys biking, hiking, and reading about politics and society.

“We urgently need to scale up long-term carbon removal. And that requires scalable and permanent sinks where we can create value from carbon: buildings!”

Mario Schmitt

CEO & Co-founder

Corporate Dev | Finance | Biz Dev | Org

Micheil is an environmental scientist and mechanical engineer with significant research and industrial experience in the UK, China, and Germany. When not working on climate solutions, Micheil enjoys making music and biking, and has even cycled from the UK to Hong Kong!

“I am motivated to be working on technical innovations that create value from biochar and support the transition to a low-carbon society. Creating practical solutions from new ideas and realizing the resulting impact is what it is all about!”

Micheil Gordon

CTO & Co-founder

Products | Technology | Operations

Hoang is an expert in public relations and sustainable concrete. In previous roles, he built the startup platform for ZIA, the leading association of the real estate industry, and held a senior position at a GreenTech-startup focused on quality assurance in concrete. In his voluntary work, he actively supports startups in sustainable construction through solid UNIT and serves on the board of ConTech Germany.

“The construction and concrete industries need sustainable solutions to drive the ongoing transformation toward climate neutrality.”

Hoang Anh Nguyen

Chief Growth Officer

Biz Dev | Marketing | Communications

Mario Schmitt

Mario is an economist and passionate about harmonizing business and nature - using the power of technology. He holds a PhD in Corporate Finance/Sustainable Business and spent six years at BCG, working on industry decarbonization and biodiversity. In his free time, Mario enjoys biking, hiking, and reading about politics and society.

“We urgently need to scale up long-term carbon removal. And that requires scalable and permanent sinks where we can create value from carbon: buildings!”

Mario Schmitt

CEO & Co-founder

Corporate Dev | Finance | Biz Dev | Org

Micheil Gordon

Micheil is an environmental scientist and mechanical engineer with significant research and industrial experience in the UK, China, and Germany. When not working on climate solutions, Micheil enjoys making music and biking, and has even cycled from the UK to Hong Kong!

“I am motivated to be working on technical innovations that create value from biochar and support the transition to a low-carbon society. Creating practical solutions from new ideas and realizing the resulting impact is what it is all about!”

Micheil Gordon

CTO & Co-founder

Products | Technology | Operations

Hoang Anh Nguyen

Hoang is an expert in public relations and sustainable concrete. In previous roles, he built the startup platform for ZIA, the leading association of the real estate industry, and held a senior position at a GreenTech-startup focused on quality assurance in concrete. In his voluntary work, he actively supports startups in sustainable construction through solid UNIT and serves on the board of ConTech Germany.

“The construction and concrete industries need sustainable solutions to drive the ongoing transformation toward climate neutrality.”

Hoang Anh Nguyen

Chief Growth Officer

Biz Dev | Marketing | Communications

Esteban Aceituno Valera

Production Management

Riccardo Ambrosini

Biochar & Carbon Markets

Ruth Beniermann

Business Development

Christian Bendler

Plant Operations

Katharina Brunner

Finance & HR

Alejandro Castilla

Head of Strategic Biz Dev & Operations

Steff Gerhart

CCO & Co-founder

Sepanta Golchin

Marketing

Martin Krehenbrink

Head of Production

Gilberto Nery

Product Management

Nsesheye Susan Priebe

Head of R&D

Chinmay Save

Finance

Ubaid ur Rehman Siddiqui

Product Development

Advisors

Ines Kolmsee & Lorenzo De Angeli

"Biochar is a cost-effective and scalable way to remove carbon from the air. ecoLocked enables the magic: to store it safely in concrete and decarbonize the construction industry with minimal cost."

Dörte Hirschberg

"ecoLocked is one of the few technologies that can decarbonize concrete today with limited Capex invest and price premium."

Andy Bonsall

"Counteract are really happy to support ecoLocked. We are all about scalable CDR solutions – so the enormous potential for biochar in concrete caught our attention, and the strength of ecoLocked's team, vision and technology convinced us."

Christian von Olshausen

“With ecoLocked, we unlock biochar's endless potential for economic and ecologic, carbon-negative value chains.”

Martin Unger

"We were super impressed by the team's drive and conviction to tackle this gigantic issue."

Sebastian Manhart

"The construction industry has a unique opportunity of turning from an emitter of CO₂, to a hugely scaleable, permanent sink. I believe ecoLocked's approach can play a big role in making that happen."

Anja Köhler

“We must accelerate the long-overdue decarbonisation of the construction sector as quickly as possible and the approach of ecoLocked, tackling one of the most pollution materials, contributes to this important goal."

Values

These shared principles guide how we work at ecoLocked.

Excellence

We strive for excellence and continuous growth in everything we do

Integrity

We are open to change and regularly reassess our role and impact

Fairness

We act with fairness and respect

Teamwork

We collaborate and support each other towards a common goal

Accountability

We take ownership and lead by example

Creativity

We nurture creativity

Curiosity

We are fueled by curiosity

Balance

We provide environments for individuals to thrive and find balance