“Even though we are a company with big global ambitions, we will continue to have a substantial footprint in Rotterdam for many years to come.”
— Thomas Petithuguenin, CEO, everox
Below is a conversation with Thomas Petithuguenin, CEO of everox, from the CIC Rotterdam Impact Report 10-Year Anniversary Edition.
Everox uses low-carbon ingredients to make new concrete. While conventional recycling means crushing demolition concrete for use beneath roads or railways, everox’s technology recovers waste materials and restores them in concrete, with the same quality and diversity as virgin materials.
Its CEO, Thomas Petithuguenin, sees it as a necessary shift: away from megafactories hauling materials over hundreds of kilometres, toward smaller plants that run on local waste from in and around cities.
The idea came out of a long search. Petithuguenin studied environmental engineering, then worked in aerospace and, later, for an equipment supplier to the cement industry. That last job taught him two things: the technologies that could decarbonise cement, and how hard it is to change anything in a sector that is well established. Looking for alternatives to virgin materials, he took interest in R&D happening at TU Delft and, together with an investor, formed the company first known as C2CA Technology.
In 2024, the company raised enough to build a factory and rebranded as everox, a more recognisable name paired with new values and a new company culture. The move to CIC Rotterdam happened almost by chance. He visited CIC, across from Central Station. His reaction was immediate: “This would be so much better for us.”
The team grew fast. The first employee started in April 2024; by the end of the year there were six; today there are 18. CIC supplied the practical scaffolding: meeting rooms, facilities, easy access for international visitors and investors, and connections that are harder to plan for. Everox worked with fellow CIC member TransitionHERO, found its HR consultant, joined the Up!Rotterdam network, and built a peer group of other CEOs.
“Being a CEO can be a lonely job”, Petithuguenin says. That peer group was part of why CIC was more than an address.
Eventually the machines outgrew the building. Everox moved to SubZero Rotterdam, which had the space and the power its equipment demanded, and European Innovation Council funding let it build a lab and pilot plant that changed the company’s course. Now Petithuguenin is focused on a stable team with a strong culture, while everox chases near-term opportunities in Finland, Canada and Portugal and works toward deploying globally.
CIC was the springboard for that stage of everox’s journey, providing the practical support, connections and room to grow until the company was ready for a home built around its machines and its lab. Everox may no longer work from CIC, but it stays part of a wider network. The relationship, in other words, outlasted the space.
