Biochar Industrial Group (BIG), a climate technology company focused on industrial-scale carbon removal in Sub-Saharan Africa, has raised $1.5 million in pre-seed funding to expand its Biochar-as-a-Service model.

The funding, led by BREEGA with participation from The Catalyst Fund, will support BIG’s partnerships with food-processing companies to convert agricultural waste into biochar and carbon removal credits, while creating additional revenue streams for agribusinesses.
The Mulago Foundation also provided non-dilutive funding as part of the financing.
BIG’s model targets three interconnected challenges facing African agriculture and industry: carbon emissions, industrial waste and declining soil quality.

The company said Africa generates about one billion tonnes of non-edible agricultural biomass annually, including nut shells, cobs, husks and stalks. Much of this waste decomposes and releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

At the same time, agricultural soils across the continent are under pressure from intensive cultivation and the use of synthetic fertilisers, contributing to nutrient depletion and declining productivity.

BIG converts agricultural waste into biochar through continuous pyrolysis, a process that heats organic material at temperatures above 600°C in an oxygen-deprived environment.
According to the company, the process locks carbon into a stable form that can remain in the environment for hundreds to thousands of years, while producing biochar that can be applied to farmland to improve soil conditions.
The process also creates the potential for independently audited carbon removal credits, giving food processors another potential source of revenue from agricultural waste that may otherwise have little or negative economic value.

BIG said it plans to install pyrolysis units directly at food-processing facilities, adapting the systems to local feedstocks and operating conditions while employing local technical teams.

The approach is designed to reduce waste-disposal costs for processors, generate additional income through carbon removal and biochar, and create technical jobs in rural communities.
The company also plans to integrate the resulting biochar into existing agricultural supply chains, particularly in regions where degraded and acidic soils constrain farm productivity.

BIG said controlled field trials involving its biochar have recorded yield increases of up to 50 per cent.

Commenting on the investment, BIG Chief Executive Officer, Ikenna Nzewi, said Africa has significant potential to develop biomass-based carbon removal at scale.
“Africa has natural advantages to lead the most scalable and cost effective biomass-based carbon removal globally,” he said.
“By forming true win-win partnerships with agricultural processors to produce biochar, we have the opportunity to turn localised waste liabilities into a transformative global solution.”

Partner at BREEGA, Tosin Faniro-Dada, said the investment was based on BIG’s approach to converting industrial waste into carbon credits while leveraging the founders’ experience in building infrastructure in Nigeria.
“BIG is turning a real industrial waste problem into repeatable, audit-grade carbon credits, and doing it with a level of operational discipline that’s rare this early,” Faniro-Dada said.
The Catalyst Fund’s Chief Investment Officer, Oluwatoyin Emmanuel-Olubake, said BIG’s model addresses multiple challenges affecting agribusinesses through a single business structure.

“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,” she said.

BIG was founded by Nzewi, Uzoma Ayogu and Isaiah Udotong, who previously spent nearly a decade developing industrial agricultural solutions through Releaf Earth, a Y Combinator-backed agro-processing company.

The founders have operated four industrial factories, developed patented nut-cracking machinery and managed supply chains involving thousands of smallholder farmers.
BIG said this experience provides the technical expertise and regional relationships needed to deploy its carbon-removal model across African food-processing and agricultural markets.