Fifth Wall Climate Tech leads round that includes Amazon, Cosan, Equinor Ventures, Honeywell, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Rio Tinto; investment will support deployments of Electric Hydrogen’s pioneering electrolyzer technology
BOSTON, June 22, 2022 – Electric Hydrogen (EH2) today announced a $198 million financing to support their efforts in making cost competitive fossil-free hydrogen. The round consisted of Series B equity and venture debt from top investors. Fifth Wall Climate Tech led the round, with participation by S2G Ventures, and lenders Silicon Valley Bank and Trinity Capital. Strategic investors included Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Cosan, Equinor Ventures, Honeywell, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and Rio Tinto. Previous investors Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Capricorn Partners, Energy Impact Partners, and Prelude Ventures also participated.
There is a growing need for low-carbon #hydrogen to meet #climate goals. We expect the proportion of renewables-based hydrogen to rise as it becomes increasingly competitive, driven by technology improvements and # carbon-related policies. https://t.co/pfOPJFe1lH pic.twitter.com/hQp5tm4NCx
— Boston Consulting Group (@BCG) June 23, 2022
The funding will support the scale-up of EH2’s high throughput electrolyzer technology and the manufacturing and deployment of demonstration projects to produce fossil-free hydrogen (also known as “green hydrogen”) at large scale for industrial and infrastructure applications.
Hydrogen, when produced in places with abundant and clean electricity, is a promising pathway for decarbonizing industries not amenable to electrification, like steel, fertilizer and intercontinental energy transport, that account for more than a third of global GHG emissions.
EH2’s patented approach to electrolysis – the process of producing hydrogen from electricity and water – is specially designed for the high-volume, low-cost production required to support massive industrial operations. Their systems run on 100% clean energy, working seamlessly with cheap variable renewable power.
“This round represents more than an investment in a company. It’s the biggest step yet toward meeting the urgent challenge of decarbonizing hard-to-decarbonize industries that are both essential to modern life and huge sources of GHG emissions,” said Peter Gajdoš, Partner at Fifth Wall and Co-Lead of the Climate Investment team. “We’ve been searching for the most promising answers to that challenge and found one in EH2. Their team, cross-disciplinary expertise and visionary technology place them at the forefront of the race to make deep cuts in industrial emissions with compelling economics.”
The race is on to make green hydrogen competitive. And Europe is building huge electrolyzers to help https://t.co/lpjS9AaODQ
— CNBC International (@CNBCi) June 24, 2022
Led by cofounders Raffi Garabedian and Dave Eaglesham, former executives at First Solar, Dorian West, former engineering lead at Tesla, and Derek Warnick, former Company Builder at Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Electric Hydrogen’s team brings together expertise in multiple sectors, from engineering and finance to manufacturing.
“This funding round fuels the next phase of our evolution. We’ve demonstrated our enabling core technology, built an amazing team and now have the capital we need to get our technology out into the world and start curbing emissions,” said Raffi Garabedian, CEO of Electric Hydrogen. “Just as importantly, the participation of strategic partners at the forefront of the industries we are poised to decarbonize–energy, mining, logistics, and heavy manufacturing, to name a few–provides vital insight that will facilitate and accelerate our path to market.”
“Through our commitment to The Climate Pledge, Amazon has a goal to be net-zero carbon by 2040,” said Kara Hurst, Vice President for Worldwide Sustainability at Amazon. “We are proud to support Electric Hydrogen’s innovative efforts to scale the green hydrogen economy and to meet the decarbonization needs of hard-to-abate sectors like freight transportation and ocean shipping.”
Rio Tinto Chief Scientist Nigel Steward said, “Rio Tinto is investing in Electric Hydrogen to support the development of emerging technologies with the potential to help decarbonize our operations and supply chains. We produce materials that are increasingly required for our society’s transition to a low carbon future, so it is critical to pursue new ways to work towards net zero in supplying them.”
“The energy transition represents an opportunity for Equinor Ventures to leverage its leading position within carbon management and hydrogen, and to develop and grow new value chains and markets. We are pleased to announce the investment in Electric Hydrogen as they scale up green hydrogen production to GW-scale,” said Gareth Burns, Head of Equinor Ventures.
About Electric Hydrogen
Electric Hydrogen (EH2) is a deep decarbonization company pioneering new technology for low-cost, high-efficiency, fossil-free hydrogen systems. Focusing on industrial applications of hydrogen in steel, ammonia and freight transport, EH2’s goal is to help eliminate more than 30% of global GHG emissions from hard-to-electrify industries. Their leadership team has revolutionized other clean energy sectors at Tesla and First Solar and they are backed by world-class climate tech investors like Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Prelude Ventures, Capricorn Investment Group, Energy Impact Partners, Fifth Wall Climate Tech and S2G Ventures. The company also has partnerships with strategic investors that are leaders in their target sectors, including Amazon Decarbonization Fund, Cosan, Equinor Ventures, Honeywell, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Rio Tinto.
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