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Kenyan direct air capture (DAC) startup Octavia Carbon has closed a US$5 million seed round. The technology uses geothermal resources, particularly waste heat, to permanently remove CO2 from the atmosphere. By 2025, Octavia hopes to make Kenya the most affordable location in the world for permanently removing CO2.A US$5 million seed round has been closed by Kenyan direct air capture (DAC) startup Octavia Carbon to advance and implement its ground-breaking technology, which uses geothermal resources, particularly waste heat, to permanently remove CO2 from the atmosphere.
In contrast to carbon capture, which is often done at the site of emissions, such a steel production, DAC methods remove CO2 directly from the atmosphere at any location. There are numerous uses for the CO2 or it can be permanently stored in deep geological formations. By 2025, Octavia Carbon, which was founded in 2022, hopes to make Kenya the most affordable location in the world for permanently removing CO2 from the environment by building and deploying DAC machines there. The company’s pilot DAC+Storage plant, Project Hummingbird, is at the heart of this endeavour and is scheduled to open by the end of 2024.
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 Fondation Botnar, Catalyst Fund, Launch Africa Ventures, and Renew Capital. As part of this financing, the startup also obtained US$1.1 million in non-dilutive carbon finance, indicating that there is a high market demand for its carbon credits.
The startup’s co-founder and CEO, Martin Freimüller, stated, “With this funding, we will soon be the second DAC company in the world to fully deploy both CO2 capture and geological storage in the field.” “Octavia’s Kenyan DAC is transforming Africa’s economic growth.” “The world will see that Africans can and will create the future thanks to their globally competitive deep tech,” said Lateral Frontiers general partner Samakab Hashi.
