Ki 13, a London-based climate technology startup formerly known as Ki Hydrogen, has raised $5 million in seed funding led by HICO Investment Group. Burgest, Triple Impact Ventures, GiTV and Desai Ventures also participated in the round. The financing was accompanied by non-dilutive match funding from Innovate UK.
Founded in 2022 by Koji Muto, Michael Stanton and Carl Banbury, Ki 13 develops technology for producing green hydrogen and biogenic carbon dioxide from biomass. Muto serves as co-founder and CEO, while Stanton is co-founder and CSO. Banbury later stepped down from the company. Ki Hydrogen Ltd was incorporated in the UK in December 2022.
The company has developed a low-temperature electrochemical process that uses lignocellulosic biomass residues as a feedstock. The system breaks down biomass to generate biogenic CO₂ and hydrogen ions, while an electrolyser regenerates the process catalyst and produces hydrogen using renewable electricity. The resulting hydrogen and biogenic CO₂ are intended as feedstocks for synthetic fuels including sustainable aviation fuel, e-methanol and e-methane.
Ki 13 plans to use the new capital to build and commission its first industrial pilot plant and expand its engineering capabilities as it moves toward commercial-scale deployment. The company says its West London pilot is being designed for annual production capacity of about five tonnes of hydrogen and is targeted to reach Technology Readiness Level 6 in 2027.
Under its former Ki Hydrogen name, the company previously announced a $1.1 million pre-seed round in November 2023, co-led by Desai Ventures and SFC Capital, with participation from HICO Investment Group, G-Force and Carbon13.
