Alt Carbon scores $12M seed to scale carbon removal in India

From a struggling family tea estate to an innovative climate venture, Alt Carbon has raised $12 million in a seed round as it plans to scale its carbon dioxide removal work in the South Asian nation. The climate-tech startup, which locks away carbon for thousands of years through enhanced rock weathering on farmlands, attracted investment led by Lachy Groom, the co-founder of the robotics AI company Physical Intelligence. The journey began May 2020 with a bittersweet homecoming. Siblings Shrey and Sparsh Agarwal drove 16 hours from the eastern state of Kolkata to Darjeeling — a city known for tea farming in the leafy foothills of the Himalayas — expecting to bid farewell to their family’s tea estate, Salem Hill, which was facing bankruptcy. Instead, that farewell visit planted the seeds for Alt Carbon, which they officially launched in late 2023. Initially, they explored carbon markets as a way to revive their family business and support other tea estates in the region by generating ... Read full article.