The Kerala start-up has won backing from a new IIT Madras-linked deep-tech fund, and plans more than 50 new jobs and international expansion for its algae-based air systems.
Carbelim has secured $1.05m from the IITM Unicorn Frontier Fund to scale its microalgae direct air capture technology. The sum, about ₹10 crore, will go towards technology development and growth. Carbelim is the first Kerala start-up to receive money from the fund, and one of its first four investments.
Dr Karthika Gopi and Rahul Babu founded the company, which has its base in Thiruvananthapuram. It has 42 staff and expects to add more than 50 jobs. Gopi, its chief executive, has also set a goal of ₹100 crore in turnover, mainly from sales abroad. “This investment will support our efforts to develop and scale our technology,” she said.
What the algae systems do
Carbelim uses microalgae to draw carbon dioxide from the air and release oxygen. Its products cover carbon capture and clean air, plus a system it calls the Micro Algae Tree, or Liquid Tree. The company aims that product at cities and industry. Gopi said the technology “delivers efficient carbon capture, clean air, sustainable resource production”.
Algae take in carbon as they grow and store it in their cells, so these systems run on light. By contrast, most built capture plants use chemical filters along with heat or power. Carbelim has also said its process turns polluted city air into oxygen and bioproducts.
The company has filed 13 patents, six in India and seven in the US. It came through the IIT Madras Incubation Cell and the IIM Lucknow EIC accelerator.
Carbelim also has support from Kerala Startup Mission. Anoop P. Ambika, that body’s chief executive, called the investment “major recognition” for the state’s deep-tech sector.
A fund built for early deep tech
The IITM Unicorn Frontier Fund I is a vehicle from IIT Madras, IIT Madras Research Park and Unicorn India Ventures, which manages it. It announced a first close of ₹450 crore on 26 September. The target is ₹600 crore plus a ₹400 crore greenshoe option, with a final close planned for December.
So far, the fund has deployed nearly ₹55 crore across four start-ups. Alongside Carbelim, they are the rocket engine firm Hathor, the quantum tools firm Quanastra and the battery cell maker Triolt Energy. It wants to back 25 companies, most of them at an early stage, with typical cheques of ₹15 crore to ₹25 crore. Its listed focus areas include defence, space, chips, robots, AI and health, so climate sits at the edge of its stated remit.
Carbelim’s round therefore sits below that usual range. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and IIT Madras director V. Kamakoti handed over the cheque at a function in Bengaluru. The fund’s backers so far are IIT Madras alumni and family offices.
The numbers Carbelim has yet to show
The announcements leave out the figures that buyers of microalgae direct air capture would ask for first. They give no capture rate, energy use or cost per tonne, and they name no working site. They also don’t say what happens to the algae after harvest. That choice decides how long the carbon stays out of the air.
Those gaps are important, because the direct air capture sector now reports hard performance data. For instance, researchers at the University of Delaware and RepAir reported about 0.83 megawatt-hours per tonne from a nickel hydroxide cell stack. Algae work in a different way, so the comparison has limits. Still, it shows the kind of proof that buyers can now find.
For microalgae direct air capture, the next useful step would be measured results from working units. Carbelim’s plan to sell abroad also raises the stakes, since the carbon buyers it meets there may want verified tonnes. Meanwhile, its clean air products give it a second market that doesn’t rely on carbon counting. That may help it earn revenue while the data builds up.
