Carbo Culture develops industrial-scale biochar production technology that converts waste biomass into durable, high-quality biochar using patented reactors and its Carbolysis™ process. The process generates renewable syngas for electricity and heat while avoiding bio-oil and yielding higher carbon sequestration per unit of biochar. The company’s biochar is suitable for agricultural and construction applications and generates significant carbon credits. Carbo Culture started Europe’s largest biochar plant earlier this year and intends to commercialize and deploy proven solutions by 2025. It closed an $18 million Series A to accelerate commercialization and scale-up and plans to develop commercial-scale projects capable of removing up to 20kt CO2 annually, to be financed through project capital. The company aims to lead the industrial-scale segment of biochar and expand its decarbonization impact across more markets. Carbo Culture has scaled an industrial "ultra-rapid conversion" process that turns woody residues into functional biocarbons at extremely high temperature, locking carbon into a charcoal-like material the company says will persist for 1,000 years. The process also generates renewable heat that can be used for heating or power generation, and the leftover biocarbon can be used in biomaterials, environmental engineering, gasifiers, or to improve soil health. The startup’s primary products are carbon removal credits and the biocarbon itself. It is operating a shipping-container pilot plant in California’s Central Valley that processes over 200 lbs of biomass per hour and says it has scaled production capacity eightfold while testing with private labs, customers, and universities. Carbo Culture licensed the underlying technology from the University of Hawaii, and says the approach has been independently verified by Puro.earth. The company reports current costs above $600 per ton of CO2 removed and aims to reduce costs to $400 by the end of next year and $200 by 2024; the new funding is intended to grow the team, advance product development, and build a scaled facility in Europe. Carbo Culture builds a transportable thermochemical reactor that turns food-production waste into biochar, a carbon-negative supplement for soil and an aid in water purification. The company says every ton of biochar it sells removes over three tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. Carbo Culture will use the seed funds to further develop a demonstration reactor in California that can handle up to six tons of food waste per day, hire additional talent, and prepare the product for commercial trials. The founders, CEO Pia Henrietta Kekäläinen and Christopher Carstens, started the company after participating in Singularity University’s Global Solutions program. The startup emphasizes generating new data and transparency on source and product information to lead the market. The market for biochar was expected to exceed $2.6 billion by 2021.

Total raised

$25M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Series A

Latest activity

Nov 2023