Portfolio Spotlight: Octavia Carbon
This series highlights the companies Carbon Drawdown Initiative has invested in.
Direct Air Capture, the Kenyan way
We recently invested in Octavia Carbon, a Direct Air Capture (DAC) company based in the heart of Kenya. Many people believe Kenya is uniquely suitable for DAC projects due to its remarkable energy grid (which is almost CO2 emission neutral) and the rich geology of the country which could store gigatons of carbon dioxide.
Explaining DAC
In the ongoing effort to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions, a burgeoning scientific community has rallied around Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology. Simply put, DAC is the process by which machines take ambient air and filter out the CO2 while releasing the carbon-depleted air. The captured carbon is then permanently stored either in rock formations or in material production, such as building materials and sustainable aviation fuels.
The primary methods of DAC involve either liquid solvents or solid sorbents. Solvent-based DAC systems utilize liquid chemical solutions to strip CO2 from the atmosphere. Sorbent-based DAC systems use solid materials that chemically bond to CO2 molecules in the air. The filters undergo superheating to release the CO2 and put air back into the environment.
While highly proven in its effectiveness, DAC presents a primary issue: cost. Removing meaningful amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere requires mass use of DAC technology since the atmosphere in any given region contains very little amounts of CO2 relative to the overall percentage of air: only 0.04%
Current initiatives aim to reduce the overall cost of DAC technology, since the science is largely unquestioned. The team at Octavia Carbon set out three years ago to reverse climate change in Kenya.
The Reasons for Kenya
In June 2022, Octavia Carbon was founded on the conviction that Kenya is the best place to develop DAC technology. The company designs, manufactures, and deploys DAC machines that filter carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for permanent storage.
Approaching three years later, climate scientists have begun to recognize the validity of Octavia Carbon’s conviction. Kenya offers three distinct advantages for DAC development:
Talent: Kenya has a relatively young workforce, comprised of talented and innovative individuals who have experienced the effects of climate change firsthand. This talent pool, as a result, possesses deep motivation to solve the crises presented to them.
Geology: The Great Rift Valley contains abundant basalt formations, ideal for the permanent storage of captured CO2. When carbon gets deposited in the natural geological formations it mineralizes into carbonates, which remain stable for estimated millions of years. As projects increase in magnitude, the local geology will allow for continued productive carbon storage.
Energy: The energy grid in Kenya is 93% renewable, and ~48% of the energy comes from geothermal sources. The geothermal plants lose energy in “waste heat,” which can be used to effectively aid in DAC, turning the wasted energy into a valuable resource and scaling DAC to megaton levels.
Continuing to develop DAC technologies in Kenya promises to propel Octavia Carbon—and DAC as an industry—to new heights.
Octavia Carbon—Then and Now
Today, Octavia Carbon rests among the five largest DAC companies in the world. The team began as a partnership between two individuals with wildly different backgrounds. Martin Freimüller, the Co-founder and CEO, worked as a Strategy Consultant at Dalberg Global Advisors, working to solve the question: “How can we create 30 million jobs for young Africans by 2030?” His research led him to carbon removal and, more specifically, DAC.
The potential to drive green growth across an entire continent intrigued Freimüller. Following his intuition—and the nascent science—he moved to Kenya.
Duncan Kariuki, Co-founder and CPO, grew up in an agricultural community near Mt. Kenya. Having witnessed firsthand the impact of climate change, Kariuki set out to use his skills to address the climate crisis.
The two co-founders connected, along with Mike Bwondera, through “The OpenAir Collective," an online community of carbon removal enthusiasts. Their shared passion developed a vision for something huge. They cast a vision for the first DAC company in the Global South, and Octavia Carbon came to life.
After just three years, the team has grown to nearly 60 people, including some of the brightest engineers, scientists, and industry experts determined to advance DAC in Kenya. They have designed and built 11 at-scale DAC machines, with four currently deployed in the field. The machines represent part of Octavia’s pilot DAC and geological storage project, named Project Hummingbird.
What’s Next?
At full scale, Project Hummingbird will capture and permanently store more than 10,000 tons of CO2 in the Kenyan Rift Valley region over the next decade. The team’s vertically integrated approach, which encompasses material science, manufacturing, project development, and deployment, has allowed them to rapidly iterate their technology—faster than their industry peers.
This sign of promise has encouraged investors, with Octavia closing a $5 million seed round to finance the project, with commercial operations set to begin this year. Project Hummingbird will generate highly durable carbon credits for businesses and individuals looking to offset emissions, validated through Puro’s Geologically stored carbon methodology. Roughly 30% of the project’s capacity is contracted through notable carbon removal market players, such as Milkywire, Klimate.co, Terraset, and Carbonfuture.
Beyond carbon removal, Octavia Carbon’s DAC operations could drive significant growth in Kenya’s overall renewable energy sector, which currently faces limited demand for large-scale expansion. By leveraging underutilized geothermal capacity, the team is creating new opportunities for clean energy investment and infrastructure development. Additionally, engaging with local communities ensures DAC deployment is inclusive and beneficial.
Octavia’s initiatives focused on job creation, skills development, and sustainable economic opportunities highlight a commitment to long-term partnerships in the Rift Valley region. The goal is bigger than scaling a company—it’s scaling an impact.
The team at Octavia Carbon have their sights set on accelerating DAC down the cost curve, promoting Project Hummingbird as the blueprint for scaling operations in Kenya and beyond. They want to significantly expand their carbon removal efforts to the gigaton scale while establishing themselves as a leading original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for international project developers.
In a time when newscycles loop climate activists causing damage in the name of “saving the planet,” Octavia Carbon is making an actual difference, improving the planet’s health starting with the air we breathe.
To learn more, visit: octaviacarbon.com