In the Alberta oil sands, the sticky, black residue left over from processing bitumen is a problem. It’s called asphaltene, and for every barrel of bitumen, about 18 percent of it is this low-value by-product [Emissions Reduction Alberta]. Most of it ends up burned for heat or landfilled. Shabab Saad and Dr. Md Kibria, a professor at the University of Calgary, saw a different kind of waste: a feedstock. Their company, CarboMat Inc., has spent the last few years figuring out how to turn that petroleum leftover into high-performance carbon fibers and, more recently, the critical anode materials for next-generation batteries.
Now, with a fresh seed round from 8 Clockwise Seed Fund and a pilot plant coming online, they are about to find out if the chemistry works at a scale that matters to industry [8 Clockwise, September 2026].
The bet on a problematic feedstock
CarboMat’s entire proposition rests on a simple, if alchemical, idea: take a cheap, abundant waste stream and transform it into expensive, high-demand materials. The company claims its process can produce carbon fiber at up to 50 percent lower cost and with 60 percent lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional methods that rely on polyacrylonitrile (PAN), a petroleum-derived polymer [Creative Destruction Lab]. The bigger, and perhaps more timely, bet is on battery anodes. The company is developing both synthetic graphite for lithium-ion batteries and hard carbon for sodium-ion batteries from the same asphaltene feedstock [Emissions Reduction Alberta].
Hard carbon is the key to the sodium-ion story. Its disordered internal structure is better suited to accommodating the larger sodium ion, whereas the neat layers of standard graphite are optimized for smaller lithium ions [Graphite-Corp.com]. As the search for cheaper, more geopolitically stable battery chemistries intensifies, sodium-ion technology is gaining traction. CarboMat is positioning itself to supply a North American source of a material currently dominated by Asian producers.
Why a seed fund wrote its first check
8 Clockwise Seed Fund’s inaugural investment is a statement of intent. The fund launched to back "breakthrough deep tech and frontier technologies capable of transforming industries and strengthening critical supply chains" [8 Clockwise, September 2026]. CarboMat, a hardware-intensive cleantech play with roots in a Canadian research university, fits the thesis neatly. The undisclosed seed round, which follows over $5 million in non-dilutive grant funding, is fueling the company’s next phase: moving from lab to pilot [CarboMat news].
The capital is earmarked for commissioning the pilot plant and launching the first customer pilot programs for both carbon fiber and hard carbon [8 Clockwise, September 2026]. This is the critical bridge between promising material science and commercial reality.
The path to a first customer
CarboMat is not building this bridge alone. The company has announced a memorandum of understanding with Hybrid Power Solutions, targeting joint market pilots in 2026 and commercial units by 2027 [TipRanks.com]. This partnership provides a potential early route to market, especially for its battery materials. The company’s focus is split across two major industrial surfaces, each with its own set of challenges and customers.
| Material | Target Application | Key Advantage Claimed |
|---|---|---|
| Carbon Fiber | Lightweight composites (auto, marine, sports) | 50% lower cost, 60% lower GHG vs. PAN-based [Creative Destruction Lab] |
| Hard Carbon | Anode for sodium-ion batteries | North American supply from waste feedstock [Emissions Reduction Alberta] |
| Synthetic Graphite | Anode for lithium-ion batteries | Domestic alternative to imported material |
Where the chemistry gets hard
Ambition is measured in tons, not percentages. The risks for CarboMat are the classic ones for advanced materials startups: scaling a chemical process consistently, hitting cost and performance targets outside the lab, and convincing conservative industrial buyers to switch from proven suppliers.
- The scaling challenge. Pilot plants exist to find problems. The step from gram-scale batches in a university lab to consistent, high-quality output in a pilot facility is where many material science ventures stumble. CarboMat is hiring for roles like Process Development Specialist, a signal it is in the thick of this work [Jobs.ca].
- The two-front war. Serving the carbon fiber composites market and the battery market simultaneously divides focus. Each has different customers, sales cycles, and performance specifications. Success in one would be a monumental achievement; succeeding in both is a taller order.
- The incumbent inertia. In carbon fiber, giants like Toray and Hexcel have decades of experience and entrenched customer relationships. In battery anodes, a handful of large Asian producers dominate global supply. CarboMat’s wedge is cost and sustainability, but displacing an incumbent requires more than a better story,it requires flawless execution.
The company’s most plausible answer is its feedstock advantage. If it can reliably convert a waste product into a premium material at the costs it projects, the economic argument becomes compelling regardless of industry inertia.
The next twelve months
For CarboMat, 2026 is the year of the pilot. The milestones are clear and grounded in hardware: successfully commission the plant, run the first customer trials, and deliver samples that meet spec. Data from these pilots will determine whether the company raises a Series A or goes back to the drawing board. The partnership with Hybrid Power Solutions will be a crucial early indicator of commercial viability for the hard carbon anode material.
The back-of-the-envelope calculation is straightforward but daunting. Alberta’s oil sands produce millions of tons of asphaltenes annually. If CarboMat’s process can convert even a fraction of that into battery-grade hard carbon selling for thousands of dollars per ton, the addressable market is substantial. The unit economics hinge entirely on the yield and energy input of their proprietary conversion process,numbers the pilot plant is designed to reveal.
CarboMat’s ultimate test won’t be in a lab report. It will be whether it can beat the entrenched Asian producers of synthetic graphite and hard carbon on cost and reliability, offering automotive and battery makers a local, lower-carbon alternative. That’s a heavy lift for any startup, but it’s the only lift that matters in the commodity world of industrial materials.
Sources
- [8 Clockwise, September 2026] 8 Clockwise Announces First Portfolio Investment in CarboMat Inc. | https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:7485351179896508416/
- [Emissions Reduction Alberta] Development of isotropic and anisotropic asphaltene-derived carbon anodes | https://www.eralberta.ca/projects/details/development-of-isotropic-and-anisotropic-asphaltene-derived-carbon-anodes-for-next-generation-battery-applications/
- [Creative Destruction Lab] CarboMat Inc. Company Profile | https://creativedestructionlab.com/companies/carbomat-inc/
- [CarboMat news] CarboMat Inc. News Page | https://carbomatinc.com/news/
- [Graphite-Corp.com] Explanation of hard carbon for sodium-ion batteries | Source from verified facts
- [TipRanks.com] Report on CarboMat and Hybrid Power Solutions partnership | https://www.stockwatch.com/News/Item/Z-C!HPSS-3754675/C/HPSS
- [Jobs.ca] CarboMat Job Listing for Process Development Specialist | https://www.jobs.ca/carbomat-inc/jobs/process-development-specialist-calgary-ab-ac99cc478e69