H2U Technologies closes $11M in funding to produce green hydrogen

Jericho Energy Ventures, Freeflow Ventures, VoLo Earth Ventures, and Hess Corporation (Hess) led an oversubscribed $11 million Series A funding round with leading venture capital and energy firms, led by Jericho Energy Ventures.

In 2021, Jericho, Hess, Dolby Family Ventures, and Motus Ventures co-led a $7 million Series A fundraising round for H2U.

“H2U has identified plentiful, low-cost catalysts to replace rare, expensive PGMs in green hydrogen generation. We and our partners will create the least-cost green hydrogen using H2U’s revolutionary, low-cost electrolyzer design, so we are happy to have such backing from new and current investors “H2U’s President and CEO, Mark McGough, stated.

Brian Williamson, CEO of Jericho Energy Ventures, said, “We are pleased to include H2U in our portfolio of enterprises.” “H2U’s cutting-edge technology will be critical in speeding up the production and deployment of clean hydrogen in order to accelerate the energy transition. We’re excited to work with H2U and provide the tools it needs to expand its distinctive product offering.”

The money raised will go toward developing H2U’s unique electrolyzer designs and commissioning the construction of its patented Catalyst Discovery EngineTM (CDE). The CDE, which employs artificial intelligence to locate non-PGM (Platinum Group Metals) PEM catalysts, is one million times faster than standard catalyst discovery techniques.

A Bigger Picture

Because of the fast-increasing need for clean hydrogen and the widespread usage of rare earth metals in various kinds of clean hydrogen production and consumption, most analysts estimate rare earth demand to skyrocket in the next decades. To avoid key material shortages that might disrupt today’s principal pathway for clean hydrogen generation, the industry must significantly reduce or eliminate its reliance on expensive, scarce, and single-source rare earth metals. The DOE recently highlighted basic research as being necessary to replace non-precious metal electrocatalysts, allowing the growth of hydrogen generation technology, through its Clean Hydrogen Electrolysis Program.

The use of rare and expensive metals like iridium raises the cost of PEM electrolysis and, by extension, the cost of green hydrogen. H2U’s CDE, on the other hand, can find earth-abundant alternative catalysts one million times quicker than existing industrial approaches, removing a key barrier to PEM water electrolysis scaling and optimizing ultra-low-cost clean hydrogen generation. H2U plans to take use of this unique platform by creating its own non-precious metal-based PEM electrolyzer for commercial use.

The Opinions of Partners and Investors

According to David Fleck, Founder and Managing Partner of Freeflow, “This investment demonstrates Caltech’s commitment to supporting creative startups that are tackling hard challenges in human and planetary health. H2U is leading the way to net zero emissions by embracing technological disruption.”

Eric Riesenberg, Managing Partner of VoLo Earth Ventures and a recently appointed board director of H2U, said, “We (VoLo Earth Ventures) are incredibly thrilled to join the H2U team.” “H2U’s management team and highly distinctive low-cost strategy to creating green hydrogen using PEM water electrolysis pleased VoLo’s fund, which is focused to decarbonization and innovative energy investments.”

“H2U is at the forefront of creating the technologies required to accelerate the global energy transition. We are excited to make this investment in order to help H2U continue to innovate in the hydrogen arena “Hess Executive Vice President and General Counsel Tim Goodell stated.

“Under McGough’s leadership, H2U has assembled an exceptional team of scientists and engineers dedicated to accelerating global decarbonization efforts,” stated Tom Werner, Chairman of the Board of H2U. “H2U’s unique effort to develop novel catalysts that considerably cut prices – similar to what has been done for solar – is critical to expanding green hydrogen generation to a level that will allow the world to reach its carbon reduction targets.”

A successful track record

H2U announced a strategic agreement with SoCalGas, the largest natural gas distributor in the United States, in 2021. SoCalGas has revealed intentions to replace up to 25% of their natural gas with clean hydrogen, which will need 10 to 20 GW of electrolysis capacity. The two companies have teamed together to test H2U’s revolutionary PEM electrolyzer, the Gramme 50TM (G50), which incorporates ground-breaking sub-component advancements to allow low-cost green hydrogen generation.

“Innovations that make green hydrogen production more cost-effective and scalable are critical to providing clean, safe, and reliable energy to the nearly 22 million Californians we serve while meeting our net-zero emissions goal,” said Neil Navin, vice president of clean energy innovations at SoCalGas. “Our collaboration with H2U Technologies will result in significant breakthroughs in this critical technology.”