Biochar Industrial Group (BIG), a climate tech startup, has raised $1.5 million in pre-seed funding to scale its Biochar-as-a-Service model.
The round was led by BREEGA, with participation from The Catalyst Fund. The Mulago Foundation also provided non-dilutive funding.
The company was founded by Ikenna Nzewi (CEO), Uzoma Ayogu (CTO), and Isaiah Udotong (COO), who bring nearly a decade of industrial experience at Releaf Earth, a Y Combinator-backed agro-processing company.
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The team has continuously operated Nigeria’s first industrial biochar plant since December 2024, using palm kernel shell waste as feedstock.
The new funding will go into expanding BIG’s Biochar-as-a-Service model, which it sells to agro-processing companies. The model converts waste like nut shells and husks into soil-improving biochar, earning carbon removal credits in the process.
“Africa has natural advantages to lead the most scalable and cost-effective biomass-based carbon removal globally,” said Ikenna Nzewi, CEO of Biochar Industrial Group.
Africa produces over a billion tonnes of non-edible agricultural biomass every year, a figure set to grow as the continent’s population triples to 4 billion people in the coming decades.
This waste, including nut shells, cobs, husks, and stalks, decomposes and releases the CO₂ that photosynthesis had stored. At the same time, overuse of land and synthetic fertilisers is stripping 30 to 60 kilograms of nutrients from every hectare of African farmland each year.
The funding will accelerate factory partnerships, turning organic waste into carbon removal solutions while unlocking new revenue streams for local food processors.
Oluwatoyin Emmanuel-Olubake, Chief Investment Officer at Catalyst Fund, said in a statement shared with Condia: “We invested in BIG because it developed an innovative approach to solve multiple problems for agribusinesses critical to African and global economic growth with a single, self-reinforcing model.”
Last updated: September 17, 2026
