# Charles Cadieu

> Charles Cadieu is a serial entrepreneur and computational neuroscientist-turned-climate-tech founder. He is the Co-Founder and CEO of Spiritus, a direct air capture company aiming to slash the cost of carbon removal to $100 per ton - down from the current $600-$1,000 industry standard. Before Spiritus, Cadieu founded Caption Health (AI-guided cardiac ultrasound, acquired by GE HealthCare in 2023) and IQ Engines (AI image recognition, acquired by Yahoo!/Flickr in 2013). Holding a PhD from UC Berkeley and degrees from MIT, he bridges deep academic roots in neural networks with a track record of building and exiting companies that redefine their industries.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Spiritus
- **Organizations:** Spiritus, Caption Health, IQ Engines
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** PhD, Computational Neuroscience, University of California, Berkeley, Master of Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bachelor of Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- **Known for:** Co-founded IQ Engines, acquired by Yahoo!/Flickr in 2013 - one of the early exits in AI image recognition, Co-founded Caption Health; received first-ever FDA authorization for an AI-guided medical imaging acquisition system, Caption Health's technology named among TIME Magazine's 100 Best Inventions

## Career timeline

- **2004** — Earned BS from MIT; began PhD studies at UC Berkeley under Bruno Olshausen at the Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience
- **2009** — Completed PhD in Computational Neuroscience at UC Berkeley; dissertation: 'Probabilistic Models of Phase Variables for Visual Representation and Neural Dynamics'
- **2012** — Joined MIT McGovern Institute for Brain Research as postdoctoral researcher working with James DiCarlo on neural networks and deep learning
- **2013** — Co-founded IQ Engines, an AI image recognition startup in Berkeley, CA; company acquired by Yahoo!/Flickr in August 2013
- **2014** — Concluded postdoctoral work at MIT, having bridged neuroscience research with AI entrepreneurship
- **2017** — Co-founded Caption Health with Kilian Koespell; developed AI-guided cardiac ultrasound technology
- **2020** — Caption Health receives FDA landmark authorization for first AI-guided image acquisition system (Caption Guidance); named among TIME Magazine's 100 Best Inventions
- **2023** — GE HealthCare acquires Caption Health in February; Cadieu co-founds Spiritus in July; Spiritus emerges from stealth in September with $11M seed round led by Khosla Ventures
- **2024** — Spiritus announces 'Orchard One' in Wyoming - designed to sequester 2 megatons of CO2 annually; named one of TIME Magazine's 200 Best Inventions of 2024
- **2025** — Spiritus closes $30M Series A led by Aramco Ventures with Khosla Ventures, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, and TDK Ventures; pilot facility on Nambé Pueblo land expected to begin operations early 2026

## Achievements

- Co-founded IQ Engines, acquired by Yahoo!/Flickr in 2013 - one of the early exits in AI image recognition
- Co-founded Caption Health; received first-ever FDA authorization for an AI-guided medical imaging acquisition system
- Caption Health's technology named among TIME Magazine's 100 Best Inventions
- Successfully negotiated GE HealthCare acquisition of Caption Health in February 2023
- Co-founded Spiritus and raised $41M+ (seed + Series A) for passive direct air capture technology
- Spiritus named among TIME Magazine's 200 Best Inventions of 2024
- Spiritus's Carbon Orchard technology targets 90% cost reduction in carbon removal (to $100/ton)
- Secured Aramco Ventures and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries as strategic investors for Spiritus
- Raised over $75 million total across three companies from VCs and non-dilutive sources including Gates Foundation and NSF
- Developed groundbreaking 'passive air contacting' technology inspired by lung structure - requiring no fans for carbon capture

## Latest updates

- **2025-03** — Spiritus closes $30M Series A led by Aramco Ventures, with participation from Khosla Ventures, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, and TDK Ventures, bringing total funding to $41M+
- **2025-03** — Spiritus expands leadership team with former Tesla, Meta, and ExxonMobil executives (Dorian West and Kip Hensley) to support commercial scale-up
- **2024-03** — Spiritus announces 'Orchard One' in Wyoming - planned to be one of the largest direct air capture and sequestration facilities in the US, targeting 2 megatons of CO2 annually from 2026
- **2024-11** — Spiritus named to TIME Magazine's 200 Best Inventions of 2024 for the Carbon Orchard technology
- **2023-09** — Spiritus emerges from stealth with $11M seed round led by Khosla Ventures, with support from Frontier (Stripe, McKinsey, Alphabet, Shopify, Meta advance market commitment)

## Links

- Website: https://spiritus.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlescadieu
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/charlescadieu

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/charles-cadieu
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-13