Airobes is not selling carbon credits. It is not building a direct air capture facility. Its first commercial product, which shipped in the final quarter of 2025, is a small vial of Taq DNA Polymerase, a workhorse enzyme used in millions of PCR tests and research labs worldwide [BIO International Convention, 2026]. The bet is that this reagent, and thousands like it, can be manufactured more sustainably and eventually more cheaply by using atmospheric carbon dioxide as the primary feedstock. For a procurement officer at a life sciences conglomerate, that is a claim worth a very long look.
The carbon-to-value wedge
The company’s platform is a two-organism biological system. In the first stage, algae capture or recycle carbon, either from the air or from industrial point sources. The carbon-rich output from the algae then feeds a second population of engineered bacteria, which are programmed to produce specific recombinant proteins [BIO International Convention, 2026]. The initial target is the research-use-only (RUO) market, a lower regulatory bar than therapeutics but still a multi-billion dollar arena for enzymes, antibodies, and other reagents. By starting with Taq polymerase, Airobes is entering a known, price-sensitive market with a product that has a clear bill of materials,one it aims to redefine.
The financial model hinges on what the company calls carbon-to-value. The secondary revenue potential from carbon capture or removal credits could, in theory, improve the unit economics of protein production, making renewable biomanufacturing cost-competitive with traditional methods that rely on sugar or other feedstocks [Perplexity Sonar Pro Brief]. It is a classic wedge strategy: use a high-volume, low-friction RUO product to prove the manufacturing process and generate early revenue, while building towards more valuable proteins for diagnostics and, eventually, therapeutics.
The team and early traction
Founded in 2024 by three Arizona State University alumni, Airobes operates with the lean capital efficiency typical of a deep tech seed stage. The leadership team includes CEO Jarrett Eshima, COO Dhruva Moudgal, and executive officer Erik Eshima [Phoenix Bioscience Core, November 2025]. The company is housed within the Phoenix Bioscience Core and has collaborated with ASU’s Algae Center for Technology and Innovation, leveraging academic infrastructure to keep early costs down [Phoenix Bioscience Core, November 2025]. Public traction is measured in grams, not tons. The company has reported achieving gram-scale carbon removal, a necessary benchtop milestone on the path to pilot-scale reactors [1871].
| Role | Name | Background |
|---|---|---|
| Co-Founder & CEO | Jarrett Eshima | Arizona State University alum; led published research involving analytical chemistry [Benjamin Ambrose LinkedIn]. |
| Co-Founder & COO | Dhruva Moudgal | Oversees operations and strategic implementation of the biomanufacturing process [Airobes Team Page]. |
| Co-Founder & Executive Officer | Erik Eshima | Listed as a related person on SEC filings [SEC Form D, September 2025]. |
Funding to date is modest, totaling $125,000 across two SEC Form D filings, one for $75,000 in September 2024 and another for $50,000 in September 2025 [SEC Form D, September 2025]. This capital is runway for prototyping and early product development, not for scaling a production line. The company has also participated in the Climate Tech Innovation Lab at 1871, suggesting a focus on building the narrative and network necessary for a subsequent institutional round [1871].
The path to a procurement cycle
The most immediate customer for Airobes is the lab manager or sourcing specialist at a university core facility or a mid-size biotech. This buyer prioritizes consistency and price, but is increasingly mandated to evaluate sustainability metrics. The initial ask is small: try this Taq polymerase, which performs identically to the incumbent but carries a novel provenance. The real commercial test comes with the renewal motion. Can Airobes scale production to meet bulk orders? Can it maintain purity and yield at lower cost structures? And can it expand its catalog to other high-demand RUO proteins to become a preferred vendor, not a novelty?
The competitive set is not other carbon removal companies. It is the established giants of the life sciences reagent market,Thermo Fisher Scientific, Merck, New England Biolabs,and a host of specialized manufacturers. Airobes is not competing on carbon credits; it is competing on price, purity, and reliability within a distributor’s catalog. Its differentiator is a fundamentally different input cost structure, but that advantage remains theoretical until proven at scale.
For now, the ideal customer profile is a sustainability-minded research institution or a biotech with a public ESG commitment, one willing to pilot a novel supply chain for a commonplace tool. The next twelve months will be about moving from gram-scale to kilogram-scale production, signing the first handful of pilot customers for the Taq polymerase, and demonstrating that the two-organism system can reliably produce a second target protein. If they can show a procurement officer a stable price quote and a certificate of analysis that matches the market leader, the bet starts to get very real.
Sources
- [BIO International Convention, 2026] Airobes LLC - BIO International Convention 2026 | https://convention.bio.org/2026-sessions-and-courses/airobes-llc
- [Perplexity Sonar Pro Brief] Airobes company brief |
- [Phoenix Bioscience Core, November 2025] Turning Emissions Into Assets: Airobes Advances Biological Carbon Capture Technology | https://phoenixbiosciencecore.com/news/turning-emissions-into-assets-airobes-advances-biological-carbon-capture-technology/11/2025/
- [1871] Airobes participation in Climate Tech Innovation Lab |
- [Benjamin Ambrose LinkedIn] Post referencing Jarrett Eshima's research | https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-ambrose-0400b9277/
- [Airobes Team Page] Airobes team description | https://airobes.com/team
- [SEC Form D, September 2025] Form D/A Airobes, LLC | https://www.streetinsider.com/SEC+Filings/Form+DA+Airobes,+LLC/24609325.html
- [Fundz, September 2024] Airobes $75,000 pre-seed funding | https://app.fundz.net/fundings/airobes-funding-round-124eda