How 3 Founders are tackling 3 major environmental and food security issues in the world.

In one line, what do you do and what is your most significant achievement?

We develop a one-stop platform to accelerate the adoption of biochar production by smallholder farmers in Asia. By doing this we tackle 3 major issues Climate Crisis, pollution from open burning and fertilizer usage and Food Security.

We're building our product and will launch it this summer. It will be our first major achievement.

Who are you and what business did you start?

Priscilla, KK and Adrien, we are co-founders of Circonomy.

Biochar is produced by heating an organic material, such as biomass, in the absence of oxygen. By turning agricultural residues into biochar, we stabilise the CO2 from the atmosphere that has been captured through photosynthesis during crop growth. By putting it back in the soil we actually store the carbon for hundreds of years. This generates high-quality carbon credits that help corporate companies to meet their Net-Zero commitments.

In agriculture biochar acts as a sponge, it retains water and nutrients, increasing plant growth and thus farmer revenue.

With our platform, we provide smallholder farmers with training, financing solution and technical equipment. They become part of biochar communities and can actively fight against climate change, regenerate their soil, and be remunerated for this activity thanks to the sale of the Carbon Removal Credit they generate.

What's your backstory?

Adrien – “After 12 years working for ENGIE in research and innovation, first in Paris and then in Singapore, on various aspects of energy efficiency and decarbonisation, I wanted to spend the next 10 years of my professional life on another aspect of Sustainability material usage and how to transition to a circular economy. I realised that my job was not always compatible with the world in which I wanted my children to grow up. But this experience at ENGIE gave me very useful knowledge & skills for what we are building at Circonomy.

With Priscilla and KK, we met at Antler last October in SG12 Cohort, a good place to start if you are looking for co-founders.

KK and I first team up when we realised that we were both driven by creating an Impact and the Sustainability related topic was a serious option for both of us.

Priscilla joined us a bit later in this journey and she is perfectly complementing the team skills in marketing.”

Adrien has a vast experience in the sustainable sector with an acute vision and passion for building a startup that provides impact. KK has the technical expertise to build and streamline the whole system that helps build circonomy's competitive edge. With a vital operational understanding of agriculture in India, he was able to combine both expertise to build our product to life. Priscilla on the other hand has a vast experience in entrepreneurship and marketing and always has a passion for business that make an impact on the underserved. Additionally, she came from a family in the agriculture sector which can accelerate the growth for Circonomy in the future, especially in Indonesia.

Together we believe we have a unique complementing expertise that is essential for Circonomy's growth

What should be the first steps to take to enter your industry?

Building trust, credibility and transparency are key in the Carbon Removal market. Following methodologies developed by carbon standards is therefore a crucial element as they can act as a guarantee of accountability and maintain high-integrity certification practices.

So, for us, the first critical step is to develop processes and tools that are accredited by those Carbon Standards.

We decided to start with CSI and the guidelines developed by Ithaka Institute as it's well adapted for the market segment we initially target and we are currently developing products to integrate more guidelines that will allow us to be agnostic.

How did you spend your First 100 Days of launching your business?

Since we pivoted on our One-Stop platform for Biochar project development we mainly focus on the Validation of the solution, creating key partnerships with local stakeholders and we are now in a phase where most of our efforts are going into product development & accreditation.

We are also starting to ramp up the marketing and business development.

Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain partnerships/customers?

Our initial partners want to stay focused on their core competencies. Thus, providing a one-stop solution that will simplify the process, provide financial solutions as well as take care of the registration verification & validation process is a key element to attract them.

What has taken you from 0 to 100?

To be honest we are not yet there but we can share what took us from 0 to 1 😊

It's not 1 specific event but rather an iterative process and our capability to iterate, pivot and stay motivated.

From the first ideation to the validation of a one-stop platform for Biochar Carbon Removal projects we pivoted a few times. From a marketplace for SMEs to share their secondary materials, we narrow down to a platform to connect agricultural producers with upcycling startups and solutions for their residues, to finally focus on biochar.

To test the idea and validate our assumptions, KK flew to India and spent 3 weeks during which he was able to identify the pain points we'll have to tackle, sign MoUs with potential customers and initiate discussions for future partnerships with biomass aggregators and equipment providers.

Being able to translate that in real traction was a major step for us, and with this validation on the field, we were able to finetune our product, narrow down again the market segment where to start, and adjust our business model.

What is one underrated thing in your industry that business owners should start doing/using?

We believe that on the supply side, the industry should better assess the potential value of residual materials (environment and economic), stop dumping or burying, and start thinking about a second life, how it can be upcycle, and how to create circularity.

On the demand side, we are speaking about Corporates, it's time for them to set up very ambitious goals, invest in their decarbonisation journey including education of their staff and start investing in high-quality carbon removal projects to mitigate the hard-to-abate emissions.

Kul Kauwid and Gokul Gaikwad from Varhad Capital, holding a artisanal kiln for biochar production

What was one failure you had to go through that others in your industry should look out for?

With our initial idea, we didn't put much effort into simplifying our added value for customers so they can easily and quickly understand what our solution would bring to their business. We probably miss a few potential partners/customers here.

What platform/tools do you use for your business?

Notion, Aspire, Xero, Osome, LinkedIn, MS Suite, Jira Software, etc

How are you doing today and what does the future look like?

We are really excited as the team is growing, which will help us to achieve the few big milestones coming soon such as product launch, biochar production pilots as well as selling our first Carbon Removal Credits before the end of this year. The road is long and it is still early, but opportunities are vast. So, we have a full heart to put 110% into building something that will really make an impact in Asia.

To meet the Paris Climate Agreement's goal, we need to significantly reduce our GHG emissions this decade, halve GHG emissions by 2030, and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

We believe that the Carbon Removal market will grow rapidly in the coming years driven by all those Corporate companies having Net-Zero emissions commitments that will have to remove carbon, but also by new regulation schemes.

All carbon Removal technologies are useful to achieve to meet our Climate objectives. However, biochar is currently the most scalable solution on the market and has a lot of co-benefits helping to meet the following UN Sustainable Development Goals No poverty, Zero Hunger, Gender equality, reduced inequalities, Climate Action, Life on land, partnership for the goals.