Meet Raymond Dobbe, Founder and Managing Director at Carbon-Kai, one of the 22 ventures participating in the Sprout Accelerator Spring26 Cohort.
We caught up with Raymond for a quick-fire five questions in five minutes to learn more about Carbon-Kai and what he hopes to achieve from his time in the Sprout Accelerator.
1. Tell us about Carbon-Kai. What are you building?
Carbon-Kai is an organic daily feed supplement for ruminant animals, focusing initially on dairy cows. It is a specially engineered and cooked, pine-mineral blend we call Carbon Coated Minerals (CCM) that improves feed efficiency and milk production, with methane reduction, improved animal health, and less drenching as side benefits.
The idea grew out of a desire to create a financially positive solution for farmers as an emissions tax was about to be imposed under the Labour government — a carrot, rather than a stick. We proved the concept in an on-farm calf trial in 2022, and after further development we're now heading into a full in vivo dairy trial once we secure funding.
2. What problem are you working to solve?
Dairy farmers are under pressure from two directions at once — thin margins on rising costs, and mounting expectations to cut methane and other on-farm emissions. Most of what's being developed only solves one side: methane. These inhibitors cost money with little or no payback and, in some cases, are detrimental to animal and human health. New Zealand's ~10,370 dairy farms and 4.68 million milking cows sit at the center of this, since livestock make up around half the country's total greenhouse gas emissions and enteric methane is the single biggest slice of that.
3. Tell us about your solution?
Carbon-Kai is a fine, dry, carbon-rich powder mixed into a cow's daily feed in a tiny dose. Inside the rumen, it changes the chemistry so that hydrogen and electrons are redirected away from methane production and into pathways that actually help the cow — showing up as greater milk volumes, more milk solids, better feed efficiency, and healthier animals, with fewer emissions coming along for the ride.
In our lab trials, it consistently cuts methane by 42–47%, and our 2022 calf trial showed calves fed Carbon-Kai gained over a third more weight than the control group. Our product also doesn't transfer past the digestive system to milk, blood or meat — instead, it's excreted, trapping harmful pathogens along with mineralised nitrogen so it can be reused in the soil rather than becoming nitrous oxide or nitrate leaching into waterways.
4. What is the next important milestone for your venture?
Our next milestone is an independent full-scale in vivo dairy trial (scientific live herd trial), which we'll run once funding is secured — an independently run controlled trial to validate the methane reduction, productivity results and animal health results we've seen in the lab and in our earlier calf trial. That data is the key that unlocks the next stage: formal engagement on the regulatory pathway.
5. What are you hoping to get out of your time with Sprout?
I'm hoping Sprout helps us get government and investor ready, with exposure to sharpening our pitch and the investment case ahead of raising our seed round. Alongside that, I'd really value support navigating the scientific trial funding and the regulatory side, plus thinking through go-to-market once we're through validation.
Find out more: https://carbonkai.co.nz