Kenyan direct air capture startup Octavia Carbon raised $5 M Seed funding
Kenyan direct air capture (DAC) startup Octavia Carbon has closed a seed round of funding totaling US $5 million to advance and implement its innovative technology, which uses waste heat and other geothermal resources to permanently remove CO2 from the atmosphere.
Unlike carbon capture, which is typically done at the point of emissions, like a steel plant, DAC technologies extract CO2 directly from the atmosphere at any location. In deep geological formations, CO2 can be permanently stored or used for a number of different purposes.
Octavia Carbon was established in 2022 with the goal of making Kenya the most economically viable nation in the world for the long-term removal of CO2 from the atmosphere by 2025. The company manufactures and installs DAC machines in Kenya.
The company’s pilot DAC+Storage plant, Project Hummingbird, which will begin operations by the end of 2024, is a key component of this endeavor.
Leading African venture capital firms Lateral Frontiers and E4E Africa co-led Octavia Carbon’s US$5 million seed round, which also included participation from Catalyst Fund, Launch Africa Ventures, Fondation Botnar, and Renew Capital. As part of this round, the startup also obtained US$1.1 million in non-dilutive carbon financing, indicating a robust market for the company’s carbon credits.
“This funding enables us to soon become the world’s second DAC company to complete the full cycle of deploying both CO2 capture and geological storage in the field,” said Martin Freimüller, the startup’s co-founder and CEO.
“Octavia’s Kenyan DAC is revolutionising economic development in Africa. Their globally competitive deep tech will show the world that Africans can and will build the future,” said Samakab Hashi, general partner at Lateral Frontiers.
