About This Fund
The ArcelorMittal XCarb Innovation Fund is the corporate venture capital arm of ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel and mining company by output. Launched in March 2021 and domiciled in Luxembourg, the fund operates as a core pillar of ArcelorMittal's XCarb programme — the company's integrated roadmap to net zero steelmaking by 2050. Governed by an investment committee chaired by CEO Aditya Mittal and comprising senior executives drawn from across ArcelorMittal's global operations, the fund deploys up to USD 100 million annually into companies developing commercially scalable technologies capable of decarbonising the steel industry. It operates as an evergreen corporate VC vehicle with no fixed fund term, sustained by ArcelorMittal's balance sheet rather than external limited-partner capital.
The fund targets a diversified range of deep decarbonisation pathways applicable to steelmaking: renewable energy, long-duration energy storage, green hydrogen production, carbon capture and utilisation, advanced nuclear energy, molten oxide electrolysis, and biochar production. Investment stages span from early-stage breakthrough companies through growth-stage rounds, reflecting the mandate to back technology at any commercialisation phase provided it offers a credible path to industrial-scale deployment. A defining feature of the strategy is active industrial partnership — portfolio companies gain access to ArcelorMittal's manufacturing footprint across 60 countries for technology pilots alongside the company's R&D infrastructure. Complementing direct equity investments, the fund launched an accelerator programme in 2022 that provides climate tech startups with mentorship and technical guidance; the programme has since expanded to India and China.
Since inception, the XCarb Innovation Fund has committed over USD 200 million across nine direct investments, establishing it as one of the most active industrial decarbonisation CVC vehicles globally. Key portfolio positions include TerraPower (USD 50 million total) for advanced nuclear energy; Form Energy (USD 42.5 million total) for long-duration iron-air battery storage; Boston Metal (USD 36 million, 2023) for molten oxide electrolysis of iron ore; LanzaTech for carbon capture and utilisation; Heliogen (USD 10 million, 2021) for concentrated solar thermal; CHAR Technologies (USD 5 million, 2023) for biochar production; and Utility Global (USD 5 million, September 2024) for gas-to-hydrogen processing. The fund has also committed USD 100 million over five years as an anchor partner in Breakthrough Energy's Catalyst programme, targeting early-stage carbon reduction projects at the pre-commercial stage.