Verdagy has secured financing and named Marty Neese as CEO.
Verdagy, founded by Dr. Ryan Gilliam, is a Khosla Ventures backed technology spin-out of Chemetry. Dr. Gilliam said: “The Verdagy technology provides the needed breakthrough in capital cost and operating cost reductions to make green hydrogen a reality. I am excited to welcome Marty as CEO. His decades of scale-up experience at Ballard, SunPower and Flex will insure Verdagy is successful at rapidly commercializing the technology.” Dr. Gilliam will now serve as Chairman of the Technical Advisory Board of Verdagy.
Prominent investor and Silicon Valley pioneer Vinod Khosla said: “We have reviewed many green hydrogen production technologies. Verdagy’s cells include a very large active area with the capability to run at high current densities and a wide dynamic operating range. This winning combination means each cell produces more hydrogen at lower cost than any competing technology in the market. The innovative design enables adoption and scale-up of green hydrogen production and the transition needed to decarbonize vast sectors of the industrial landscape.” Khosla Ventures is the lead investor and backer of Verdagy.
Furthering the scale-up efforts, Verdagy and Permascand are pleased to announce they have signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) for the development of a novel electrochemical cell to produce green hydrogen. The Verdagy and Permascand partnership will build on the relationship and development activities for the commercialization of electrochemical cells for Chemetry’s eShuttle® EDC process.
Marty Neese, Verdagy’s CEO, said: “I have been deeply involved in the hydrogen economy for the past six years as a Board Member of a leading PEM fuel cell company. Verdagy has the most exciting game-changing electrolyzer technology I have seen. Being able to go-to-market with the lowest capex and lowest opex solution simultaneously is an incredible once-in-a-career opportunity. The outstanding team of researchers, electrochemists, and pilot plant process engineers have worked tirelessly to get to this point and it is great to see it paying off. Collaborating with Permascand on the manufacturing scale-up of our hydrogen electrochemical cell is a key step towards demonstrating Verdagy’s hydrogen production technology at multi-MW scale. We are very excited to have Permascand as a partner on our path to high-volume commercialization.”
Peter Lundström, CEO at Permascand commented: “We are happy to be part of this collaboration with Verdagy, offering our expertise for Verdagy’s hydrogen process commercialization, supplying the electrochemical market with high-end technology solutions that contributes to accelerating the global green transition.”
Permascand has nearly 50 years of experience in fabricating electrochemical cells and the associated coatings and equipment that complement Verdagy’s technology. Permascand’s expertise ranges from prototype development through to full-scale high-reliability, high-repeatability manufacturing of electrochemical cells supporting the global water treatment, electrification and renewables, chlorate and chlor-alkali markets.
Verdagy is operating a pilot plant for a novel process to produce green hydrogen at its site in Moss Landing, California. Permascand is a global leader in electrochemistry, cell design and manufacturing and will use their expertise to ensure full reliability and a competitive cost base for the commercial electrolyzer that is a key part of Verdagy’s process. Together, Verdagy’s cell design and Permascand’s highly automated manufacturing and coating expertise will enable the rapid scale-up and commercialization of Verdagy’s green hydrogen electrolyzer.
