Altered Carbon eis
AI POWERD DIGITAL NOSE TECHNOLOGY
Pioneering, low-cost e-nose technology backed by specialist institutional investors initially targeting food industry to reduce waste.
FUTURE
OVERVIEW
Type | Single company |
Sector | Technology |
Target return | 14x |
Funds raised / sought | £400,000 / £1.0 million |
Minimum investment | £11,550 |
Deadline | 18 August 2023 |
MISSION
Technology can hear, see and touch. Altered Carbon’s mission is to give every device the sense of smell. We call it…
“The Intelligent Digitisation of Scent”
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INVESTMENT ALREADY COMMITTED
NEWS
ELEVATOR PITCH
One-third of all food produced globally by weight is lost or wasted between farm and fork. This amounts to over a billion tons of food and $940 billion in economic losses a year.
It is estimated that by 2030 reducing food waste could represent a $155-405 billion economic opportunity.
Bristol-based startup Altered Carbon Limited (“Altered Carbon” or the “Company”) is developing technology that aims to help cut food waste. Its electronic nose, or e-nose, technology – think of it as the digital version of a dog’s nose – mimics the sensitivity of a dog’s nose and combines it with the repeatability and accuracy of a digital sensor.
Using digital scent sensors, Altered Carbon’s e-nose technology can sense chemical compounds effectively, take a scent or gas reading and then interpret it. For instance, it was able to help Branston – one of the UK’s largest potato distributors – spot signs of potato blight up to 10 days earlier and aims to reduce losses by up to 20%, a potential saving of c.£3 million a year.
Beyond food production and storage, e-nose technology could be applied to multiple industries, from environmental and medical to military and defence.
E-nose technology is not new and its potential is widely recognised. However, to date, adoption has been hindered by the size and cost of the technology.
Altered Carbon was set up to overcome these limitations. Its AI-driven K9Sense is significantly smaller and cheaper than current alternatives. It is an ultra-sensitive, super low-power, highly customisable and scalable graphene sensor that recognises the digital fingerprint of a smell. It is capable of detecting a wide spectrum of scents and volatile organic compounds accurately and cost effectively and could be used across multiple applications and industries.
While still early stage, the Company has made progress with commercialising its technology and has so far secured four paid pilot projects, including Branston and an environmental monitoring project in South Gloucestershire backed by Toshiba. Early feedback has been positive and the initial savings are expected to be considerable.
Existing pilot projects are expected to generate c.£100k in revenue over the next 12-18 months and could be worth up to £3 million if they develop into full-scale contracts – not guaranteed. The Company has also established manufacturing partnerships to produce the sensors at scale.
Now, Altered Carbon is seeking to raise £1 million under EIS to support its progress, accelerate sales and convert existing pilot projects into full-scale contracts. £400k has already been invested or committed. Existing institutional investor Britbots, which specialises in productivity-enhancing automation technologies as well as existing private investors have already invested.
“Having backed Altered Carbon through its early development phase, we’re now incredibly excited to be supporting them again as they start to proliferate their unique technology. With a number of initial contracts already secured and a growing sales pipeline, the business is going from strength to strength and I’m excited by its potential to deliver a stellar return to investors in the years to come.”
TEAM
Sam
CPO & AI Lead
10 years + in robotics, communication, and hardware, designing and deploying unique technologies.
My idea of robotics is to enable us to do more with our lives.
Ali
CEO
8+ years managing technology products projects and developing solutions with a background in product design.
If you believe in an idea, you should do everything possible to make it a reality.
Frazer
CTO & Graphene Lead
PHD student UWE.
I like the challenge of taking a world changing idea and making it a reality.
Jake Ronay
Investor & Interim Chair
Jake Ronay is an accomplished Ventures Director, having established over £120m of early-stage tech funding programs. He excels in strategic leadership, securing large-scale investments, and fostering business partnerships. Known for his hands-on approach, communication prowess, and process change management, he also lectures at Bath University and advises various startups. His people-focused style delivers outstanding business results and drives team development.
Dominic Keen
Lead Investor & Director
Dominic Keen specialises in identifying new markets and supporting tech-customer propositions. He plays an instrumental role in driving company growth.
Dominic represents the interest of minority shareholders on the board.
Former Head of Venturing, Egg plc, the uk’s first online bank
Mark Corderoy
Business Advisor / Technology Strategist
Technologist and mentor. I am excited by ideas that make a difference.
Alex Kolev
CFO & Advisor
Co-founder of Helecloud, Alex Kolev has an impressive track record in finance, with experience in two PE investments with Warburg Pincus and EQT closing over 20 acquisitions and significant roles at Hewlett Packard and KPMG.
Orlin Georgiev
Financial Controller
Orlin Georgiev, currently serving as the Senior Financial Controller at HeleCloud Limited, part of SoftwareOne AG, is an experienced financial manager. His expertise includes overseeing financial operations, coordinating with external accounting parties, and managing the audit process. He played a significant role in the financial due diligence during HeleCloud’s acquisition by SoftwareOne AG and successfully navigated the post-acquisition transition. His experience and financial acumen will be a valuable asset to Altered Carbon Ltd as the company scales its operations.
Violina Stoeva
People & Operations HR
Experienced professional offering over 15 years of HR career distinguished by commended performance and proven results. Extensive background in HR, including a vast experience in employee recruitment and retention, staff development, mediation, conflict resolution, HR records management, HR policies development, and legal compliance. Demonstrated success in negotiating win-win situations, developing team-building programs, and writing personnel manuals, corporate policies, job descriptions, and management reports.
Matthew Studley
Advisor
Matthew Studley, an accomplished researcher at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory and a leader in Research Ethics at the University of the West of England, has a rich background in international telecoms, e-commerce, and AI R&D. He led the H2020 ‘SciRoc’ project, promoting robotics through Europe-wide events. He focuses on ethical foresight in AI, human-robot interaction, and creating repurposable robots, all with an aim to involve communities in shaping their AI-influenced futures.
Hannah Crooks
Biochemist & Project Coordinator:
Experience in conducting/overseeing lab experiments and project organisation working on
multiple projects for Innovate UK & NPL.
Jason Sharman
Lab Technician
Experience hardware developer. Works on ink candidate creation and lab procedures.
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