The alternative carbon records $ 12 million seed to expand carbon removal in India

From a family tea, it is struggling with an innovative climate project, Carbon She raised $ 12 million in a seed tour because it plans to expand the scope of carbon dioxide removal in South Asia. It attracted the start of climatic technology, which closes carbon for thousands of years through the reinforced rocky welfare in agricultural lands, investment led by Lachy GROOM, co -founder of Robotics Ai Physical Intelligence.

The journey started in May 2020 with a return home. The siblings, Shri and Sparrush Agarawal, led 16 hours from the Eastern Kolkata state to Dargeling – a city known for the cultivation of tea in the lush hills in the Himalayas – and is expected to deposit their family tea, Salem Hill, who was facing bankruptcy. Instead, the farewell visit was planted with the seeds of Alt Carbon, which they officially launched in late 2023.

Initially, they explored the carbon market as a way to revive their family business and support other tea real estate in the region by generating additional income. But while exploring them, they discovered the fantasy of improved rocks as an approach that could transform the Darngling legacy from being at risk of climate change to the limits of climate work.

“In the carbon market, it was our awareness that many projects in India, which depend on more, are of very low quality, and that they produce unwanted credits,” Sparesh said in an exclusive interview.

Last year, Alt Carbon began its pilot around Agarwals on an area of ​​about 500 acres of land, which they later formed in North Bengal, and expanded its range from tea farms to rice and bamboo farms. The startup aims to expand to 500,000 hectares of Earth.

By 2030, startup aims to remove 5 million tons of carbon from the region, said Sparsh Techcrunch.

Alt Carbon publishes improved rocky rocks using basalt rock dust of mines and quarries in Rajmahal Vraps volcanic volcanic, located in eastern India. The rock dust, a waste product product, is spread over the farm fields, where it interacts naturally with rain water to remove carbon dioxide and add micro nutrients to the soil to improve its fertility and health and enhance crop crops. When the rain water that contains carbon dioxide reacts with basalt dust, it forms stable bicarbonate ions. It is stored in the soil and ultimately flowing through the rivers to the ocean, where it settles as calcium carbonate, and the carbon closes for more than 10,000 years.

To transfer specialized dust from the source sites to the farm fields, the start of the operation depends on the bars and diesel trucks and pays prices in one direction because these sources are part of the shipping transmission system in the tea industry. It also avoids the start of emissions from the processing of the designated rocks by relying on the basalt waste from the current mining and crushing processes.

Instead of using basalt dust alone, starting the start of a special mixture of basalt with other organic ingredients, which Harry Maati (green soil in Indian) calls, to persuade farmers to spread it in their agricultural lands.

Alt Carbon appreciates their carbon balances at $ 270 per metric ton, which Sparsh said is much cheaper than direct air capture credits that, as it is believed, costs about $ 800 per ton. However, it is expected that the startup company will reduce costs within 36 to 48 months.

Shri told Techcrunch that the startup depends on three layers of measurements to understand how much the rocks and the amount of carbon are removed. Sensors start to track the progress of the cavity and then move to measuring the water inside the soil, taking samples of the groundwater, and monitoring the river. The third layer uses special interactive transport models that help track the soil ions to water bodies. The startup also uses the modeling -based modeling modeling to obtain carbon removal numbers.

Alt Carbon says its models are closely adhered to the methodologies determined by carbon removal records, including equal measurement and Puro.eart. They also received approvals from international governmental organizations, including SBTI, ICVCM and Corsia.

Upon starting its laboratories in Darjeling and Bangaluru, it is employed from 8 to 10 degrees, with a large number of 25 employees. It aims to expand the scope of these laboratories and expand their work by doing more soil sample analysis and even preparing a studio for devices to collect better and high -quality data on the ground, using remote sensing. The start starting also plans to publish sensors on the floor for more ideas at a lower cost and at a faster time. All this will come through this seed tour led by the groom.

Last year, the startup company obtained a $ 500,000 before purchasing by FrontierAnd the advanced commitment to the advanced market worth $ 1 billion led by Stripe, Alphabet, Meta, Shopify and MCKINSEY. Also recently A strategic partnership signed with Jupiter alliance, Nextgen,, Which was started by South Pole and Mitsubishi Corporation, to expand the scope of improved rocky welfare. The collection also included the BCG, Swiss Re, LGT and UBS collection between its members. Last month, the startup took place OffTake Convention with Japanese Shipping Company, Mol GroupTo buy 10,000 tons of carbon removal credits.

Sparesh said that Alt Carbon will provide her first carbon credits in less than a month through equal measurement.