Biochar Industrial Group raises $1.5m to turn Africa’s agricultural waste into carbon credits
BIG will also use the capital to hire engineering, operations, logistics, and carbon-verification staff and build systems to monitor and verify the carbon removed through its process.
Biochar Industrial Group (BIG), a climate-tech startup co-founded by former Releaf executives, has secured $1.5 million in pre-seed funding to transform agricultural waste in Africa into carbon removal credits. The funds will be used to install pyrolysis equipment at food-processing facilities, where waste like nut shells, husks, and cobs will be converted into biochar—a charcoal-like material that stores carbon.
BIG will finance and operate the equipment, while the factories provide the waste and receive a portion of the revenue. Early-stage venture capital firms BREEGA, the Catalyst Fund, and the Mulago Foundation led the funding round, with non-dilutive funding from the Mulago Foundation. Africa generates over 3 billion tonnes of agricultural waste annually, much of which has little value and releases carbon dioxide when decomposing.
Over 80% of African agricultural lands are degraded, limiting productivity. BIG aims to address both issues by converting waste into biochar, which stores carbon and can be added to soil to improve its quality. The Middle East and Africa's biochar market is expected to surpass $450 million by 2032 as demand for durable carbon removal credits grows.
BIG's CEO, Ikenna Nzewi, believes Africa has the potential to lead in cost-effective biomass-based carbon removal. Under BIG's Biochar-as-a-Service model, food factories supply waste, while BIG finances, deploys, and operates the pyrolysis equipment on-site. The startup handles processing, carbon measurement, verification, and credit issuance locally.
The waste is processed in a continuous pyrolysis machine, transforming it into biochar that can store carbon for hundreds to thousands of years. BIG sells the biochar as an agricultural input and carbon credits, which can be independently audited and sold in international markets. The company targets large agricultural processors that generate at least 2,500 tonnes of waste annually, focusing on waste with limited value in existing uses.
BIG plans to deploy digital monitoring systems to create data trails tracking biomass processing and carbon removal, aiming to produce independently auditable credits for international buyers. While BIG faces competition from other companies in the biochar and carbon removal market, it plans to expand globally, targeting sites with abundant biomass and low opportunity cost for production.
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