Frontier Innovation Track

Frontier Innovation Track

Funds early-stage carbon removal work through Stripe's Frontier Innovation Track with grants and pre-purchase pathways.

Frontier's Innovation Track is the primary entry point for early-stage carbon dioxide removal (CDR) companies seeking non-dilutive capital to advance their technologies. Frontier is a carbon removal procurement initiative collectively funded by Stripe, Alphabet, Shopify, Meta, McKinsey, and other corporate buyers. The Innovation Track offers two instruments: R&D grants of approximately $250,000–$750,000 for defined research scopes deliverable within roughly 18 months, and prepurchases of approximately $250,000–$1.5 million for companies that can deliver first verified removal tons within approximately one to two years. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis with no fixed deadline, and Frontier announces its selection decisions twice per year.

Eligibility is open globally to for-profit companies, nonprofits, universities, and research organisations working on CDR technologies. The minimum technology readiness level for prepurchase applicants is TRL-3, with laboratory-scale performance data required to demonstrate proof of concept. Prepurchase applicants must also provide a technoeconomic analysis based on process flow diagrams and a credible measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) approach. Priority innovation areas for 2026 include surficial mineralisation, ocean and inland water alkalinity enhancement, MRV toolkits for open-system pathways, and novel CDR approaches that significantly outperform existing portfolio technologies. Afforestation, reforestation, biochar, and carbon avoidance projects are explicitly out of scope. All CDR approaches must demonstrate a pathway to permanent storage exceeding 1,000 years, a cost trajectory under $100 per ton, and gigaton-scale potential.

Frontier evaluates applications across four lenses: the technical approach, team execution capability, portfolio diversification, and the applicant's potential to catalyse broader market development. R&D grant recipients are required to share research results transparently. The application process begins with a pre-application form submitted via Airtable, followed by a full application reviewed over approximately three to four months before a funding decision is issued.