Ukrainian climate tech Carbominer secures €1.5M grant from EIC Accelerator

Carbominer, a Kyiv-based modular direct air capture technology provider, has secured a €1.5 million grant from the EIC Accelerator Fund. Following this grant, Carbominer plans to raise an additional €7.5 million in equity in the future.

• Carbominer was founded in 2020 by Nick Oseyko in a small R&D lab and scaled to a full-blown facility in October that year. In September 2021, the first MVP machine was built. In 2022, Carbominer managed to put 1-ton DAC machine prototype on the paid pilot with a corporate partner.
• Its main product is the sustainable CO₂ modular direct air capture device. The startup claims that with this fossil-free CO₂ farmers can sustainably promote crop yield by 30% in their greenhouse or vertical farms. 

Our goal is to make an impact Indoor Agriculture. The team’s motivation is enabling more sustainable and efficient food production by supplying green atmospheric CO2 to indoor farmers,

Carbominer commented on the future plans.

• The startup was previously funded by Ukrainian fund SMRK VC and in 2023 raised additional funding from Swiss Business Angel. Carbominer is the second Ukrainian startup to receive financing under the new EIC Accelerator program. In 2022 same financing was received by another Kyiv-based project Releaf Paper. 

• The EIC Accelerator offers startups and SMEs grants of up to €2.5 million combined with equity investments through the EIC Fund up to €15 million. In addition to financial support, all projects are provided with expertise, corporates, investors, and ecosystem actors.

The entire grant application process took 8 months and included short application preparation, long application, review time by the Commission, and the final interview in October with seven experts.