Bygen

Based in Melbourne, Australia, Bygen is an environmental technology company that produces sustainable activated carbon from renewable agricultural and forestry byproducts using a low-temperature activation process. The enterprise converts waste materials like almond shells into high-quality carbon designed for industrial applications such as water treatment, soil remediation, and petrochemical refining. Operating an initial facility in South Australia with a production capacity of 2,000 tonnes per year, the firm is currently expanding its manufacturing footprint with a new large-scale Victorian plant. To support these broader industrial decarbonization efforts, Bygen raised a $2.6 million Series A venture capital round backed by institutional investors including Breakthrough Victoria, Alberts Impact Ventures, Investible, and Startmate. The company was founded in 2018 by Lewis Dunnigan, Ben Morton, and Philip Kwong as a research spin-out from the University of Adelaide.