We raised $12 million in seed funding to accelerate carbon removal in the Global South
By Sparsh & Shrey
We believe there are five great planetary problems that require attention for the progress of humanity:
- Curing cancer (more broadly pestilence & disease)
- Interstellar travel
- Advancements in intelligence (development of cognitive systems; advance of AI)
- Addressing inequality
- Solving climate change.
Working on any of these broad fields not only helps advance humanity, but also adds greater meaning and purpose to the individual human life.
We choose to focus on solving the climate crisis.
The most pressing challenge of the century
Climate change questions the very survival of humans as a species. It touches everything: equity, development, energy, food, and our future.
Every day, 100 species go extinct on our planet, & we have already had five mass extinction events. But, for the first time, we as a species, have the ability to counter our own extinction. For us, there’s nothing more meaningful than taking on a problem this complex and consequential.
Hard problems demand deep thinking and bold solutions. We believe we can reverse climate change, and Alt Carbon is an endeavour to make that reality possible.
From Climate change to Climate action:
- Building agricultural infrastructure for climate action: We’re creating the underlying infrastructure to make carbon removal rigorous, scalable and swift. This includes the full stack from earth science labs to geochemical models (MRV) to an end-to-end monitored supply chain.
- Centering Carbon Removal (CDR) in the Global South: We’re building climate solutions designed for the realities of the Global South — where land is vast, labor is skilled, and climate stakes are existential.
- Turning agriculture into carbon sinks: We’re mapping land, testing soil and water chemistry, and building high-resolution datasets. This geo-specific intelligence helps us deploy smarter, faster, and gives us critical agri data transforming a hard-to-abate sector into a sink for removing and storing Co₂.
- Building scientific credibility through in-house MRV: We built Darjeeling Climate Action Lab (D-CAL) to improve our research and develop proprietary models for quantifying CO₂ removal. Our investments in labs, and collaboration with the leading scientists in the field will help improve the accuracy and speed of MRV for the entire pathway, and for the Global South.
- Moonshot Projects: Gathering the best scientists and engineers, and collaborating with research institutions will allow us to innovate on making long-term bets for catalysing CDR across pathways and technologies.
- Integrating livelihoods, ecology, and local culture: The Darjeeling Revival Project embodies our belief that carbon removal should have benefits to nature and its people. ERW revives soils, rebuilds rural economies, and respects cultural legacies — making climate action regenerative by design. We will scale the Darjeeling Revival Project, and take our learning to create more such scalable projects across the Global South.
To reverse climate change while lifting billions out of poverty, we need to invent our way out — and then fund what we invent. Alt Carbon is a deeptech science & data company, and we believe that the future belongs to those who build.
On the impossible days in this difficult journey, we remind ourselves,
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, individuals can change the world.”
If you think you know why, here are our openings. Come solve climate change with us!
Here’s what you’re signing up for, when you join Alt Carbon.
A glimpse from our announcement:
- Seed funding: We raised a $12 million seed from Lachy Groom and participation with existing investors (Shastra VC).
- Angels: Jason Zhao (Co Founder, PIP Labs), Amarendra Singh (Co Founder, DeHaat), Sangarsh Nigam (Founder, bluCognition; former Chief Credit Officer, American Express), Tanmay Bhatt, among others also participated.
- Support from philanthropy: Early support from ACT Grants has been critical in undertaking long term R&D.
- Mitsubishi Corporation & MOL Group: We have signed landmark deals with key companies to scale Carbon Removal (CDR) in South Asia.
- Bolstering leadership: Yashovardhan Bhagat joins us as the Chief Operating Officer. Adithya Venkatesan will lead our in-house Climate Studio, and Dr. Sourav Ganguly will lead the science & modelling team.
Remove CO₂. Create Abundance.
You can read a detailed press release about what we’re doing, how we plan to utilise these funds and more - here.