The posting
Turn Thailand's burned rice straw into verified carbon removal, with PTT's rails behind you from day one.
Location: Bangkok, with regular time in the rice belt (Isan, Central Plains). Open to candidates based elsewhere in Thailand.
Start date: ASAP. Final founder pitches to the PTT board and Founders Factory decision makers in early December 2026.
More about the concept here. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/111GRCiHMbWQ7Mhp7clu6eVj9I5Fe0torULSBbQIbjHo/edit?slide=id.h1680521e6288a2b8_0_1804#slide=id.h1680521e6288a2b8_0_1804
Founders Factory builds and funds startups together with exceptional entrepreneurs and the world's leading companies. Created by IPO-exited founders, we offer founders capital, operational support from a team of hands-on experts, and unrivalled access to a coalition of industry-leading corporate partners. Since 2015, Founders Factory's 450+ portfolio companies have secured 500+ pilots and commercial contracts with our partners.
Our Studio partners with entrepreneurs at day one, developing new ideas, technologies and business models into high-growth companies. In partnership with PTT, Thailand's national energy company, we are building a new portfolio of climate ventures out of Bangkok.
ABOUT THE VENTURE
Every dry season, Thailand's sky turns grey. Around 4.8 million tonnes of rice straw are burned in the fields each year, and biomass burning drives 25–30% of dry-season PM2.5 in the Bangkok region. Farmers burn because it is the fastest, cheapest way to clear a field. The straw is not worthless; nobody has built the route to market.
Meanwhile, the world's biggest buyers of carbon removal are queuing for supply. Biochar was 89.4% of all delivered durable carbon removal in Q2 2025, over 90% of industrial supply is already contracted, and credits average around $160/t. Buyers like Microsoft have confirmed the price; what they need is a new, credible origin with proof of where every tonne came from.
We are building Amber: the logistics and verification platform that routes agricultural residue from the field edge to conversion capacity, and owns the chain of custody that turns scattered smallholder activity into premium carbon credits. Satellite mapping finds the residue before harvest. A smartphone app runs booking, weighing, routing and farmer payment, and generates the audit-grade record buyers require as a by-product. Credits issue through Puro.earth http://Puro.earth, Isometric and Thailand's Premium T-VER, with physical biochar sold as soil amendment at home and exported to premium markets such as Japan.
The timing is right. Since 1 April 2026, farmers who burn lose access to government disaster relief and agricultural support, with fields monitored by satellite. Cabinet approved the draft Climate Change Act in December 2025, setting up an ETS, a carbon tax and a regulated credit market. Pyrolysis hardware is now off the shelf.
The unfair advantage: PTT. Amber starts with rails no biochar operator can rent: PTT OR's logistics grid, rural reach and farmer trust, a cost of capital that funds modular kilns and working capital, and the reputation that decade-long offtake with Microsoft-grade buyers requires.
Early validation is strong. Rice farmers told us they want free field clearance first and income second. A baling contractor in Thung Kula said the only question is "whether the company will actually do it." That's where you come in.
OUR OFFER
We don't just fund ideas — we co-build them. Join as Founder & CEO and get access to a full-stack venture studio offering designed to give you the best possible start:
- Capital and backing: Tranche 1: €110k yours to spend, plus a fulltime venture builder, and a hands on squad around you. Tranche 2: €175k of spin-out capital plus a 6 month accelerator programme, with PTT as strategic backer from day one.
- PTT's rails: Access to logistics, rural networks, capital for modular kilns, and the credibility to sign long-term offtake with global carbon buyers
- Expert Team: Hands-on support across product, growth, fundraising, AI/ML, design, legal, hiring and more
- MVP Build: Full-time venture builder(s) to help ship the first product: supply register, dispatch and the field app
- Accelerator: 6 months of deep operational support post-launch
- Strategic Network: Intros to top-tier investors, carbon buyers and registries, and Founders Factory's global corporate partners
- Validation: A vetted concept with buyer, farmer, baler and offtaker interviews already done, so you start at month six, not month zero
JOBS TO BE DONE
As Founder & CEO, you will be responsible for turning a strong thesis into Southeast Asia's leading carbon removal supply chain.
- Pick the first district. Decide which province, crop and harvest window you attack first, using satellite residue maps and burn-scar history, and secure contracted feedstock before anyone buys a machine.
- Win the farmer, the baler and the mill. Build trust on the ground with farmers, baling contractors, village heads and mills. Make clearing a field with Amber easier and better paid than burning it.
- Move real tonnes. Run Phase 1 as a broker: buy residue, route it through contracted balers and trucks, deliver it to biochar producers, and learn the true cost per tonne by distance.
- Turn tonnes into credits. Partner with producers on digital MRV, issue the first credits through Puro.earth http://Puro.earth, Isometric or T-VER, and sign forward offtake with global carbon buyers.
- Unlock PTT's rails. Work with PTT and PTT OR teams to put logistics, capital and rural networks to work for the venture, and present progress to the PTT board.
- Build the company. Hire the founding team, raise capital, and establish Amber as the trusted name in Thai carbon removal, then take the model to rice, cane, cassava and maize across the region.
YOUR IDEAL EXPERIENCE
We are not looking for a carbon-markets consultant or a pure software founder. The ideal candidate has moved real tonnes in rural Thailand, and can sell what comes out the other end.
- Founder or senior operator who has run a physical rural aggregation supply chain in Thailand at real volume: rice, sugar cane, cassava, palm, maize or biomass.
- Relationships with farmers, cooperatives, baling contractors, mills or agri-processors, and the respect of people in the field, not just the boardroom.
- B2B commercial instinct: you can sell industrial offtake, soil amendment into fertiliser distribution, or biomass into industry, and close long-term contracts.
- Comfort with data and digital tools: you can reason about satellite data, dispatch apps and MRV even if you are not writing the code yourself. Exposure to carbon credits, biochar or climate tech is a strong plus.
- Fluent Thai and strong English. You can run a meeting in a village in Isan in the morning and pitch a global carbon buyer in the afternoon.
- Credibility with a national corporate like PTT and with forward-looking venture investors; ready to stand in front of the PTT board in December.
- Comfortable operating in ambiguity: making irreversible calls with incomplete data, through mud, weather and harvest deadlines.
You might be a founder who has already built in agritech or climate, a supply chain leader from a sugar, rice or energy group ready to build your own company, or a returning Thai operator who wants to solve a problem you grew up with.
Most importantly, you want to be the person who ends field burning in Thailand, and builds a regional company doing it.
This is your company. We're here to help.
HOW THE PROCESS WORKS
We are moving fast. The selected founder pitches Amber to the PTT board and Founders Factory decision makers in early December 2026.
1. Intro call (from now): 30 minutes with Founders Factory's talent team about you, the concept and fit.
2. Concept deep dive (October–early November): Sessions with the studio team on the deck, the validation work and your view of the first district.
3. Working session (November): A short, scoped case: your 90-day plan for Phase 1, tested with the team and PTT stakeholders.
4. Pitch preparation (late November): We build the board pitch with you, together.
5. Final pitch (early December): You present to the PTT board and Founders Factory decision makers.
