Ki 13

Ki 13 is a London cleantech company producing green hydrogen and biogenic CO₂ from waste biomass. Synthetic fuels such as e-SAF, e-methanol and e-methane depend on those two inputs, and both are expensive to source: hydrogen conventionally comes from splitting ultra-pure water, and carbon from pulling CO₂ out of the atmosphere. Feedstock cost is the main reason synthetic fuels remain uncompetitive against fossil alternatives.

The company replaces both steps with a single low-temperature electrochemical reaction. Lignocellulosic biomass — agricultural and forestry residues, and other leftover organic material that nobody has to grow on purpose — goes in, and hydrogen and biogenic CO₂ come out as separate streams simultaneously. Ki 13 puts the electricity requirement at roughly 25 kWh per kilogram of hydrogen against about 50 kWh for water electrolysis, and 300 kWh per tonne of CO₂ against the 2,000 to 3,000 kWh that direct air capture can draw. Customers are the fuel and chemical producers who buy those feedstocks rather than end users of the fuel itself.

Founded in December 2022 by Koji Muto and Michael Stanton, and formerly known as Ki Hydrogen, the company grew out of Stanton's postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge and the Carbon13 venture builder. It raised a $1.1 million pre-seed in 2023 and a £3.7 million seed in September 2026 led by HICO Investment Group, which is funding its first industrial pilot plant. The team numbers around a dozen and is based in London.