Electric Hydrogen today announced a $24M Series A financing led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and joined by Prelude Ventures and Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund. The funding will support continued product development as the company expands its operations in the Greater Boston and San Francisco Bay Areas.
Founded by a team of energy transition veterans from First Solar and Tesla, Electric Hydrogen is developing large-scale solutions to help ease the world’s dependence on fossil fuels. Using low-cost renewable electricity, the company will produce clean hydrogen gas, an ideal medium for the decarbonization of many polluting industrial sectors.
“With their strong track record of success in scaling new clean energy technologies, Electric Hydrogen has what it takes to make good on the promise of hydrogen as a clean and economical building block for decarbonizing industry,” said Carmichael Roberts, Breakthrough Energy Ventures. “We’re proud to have supported Electric Hydrogen in this vital mission from its inception, and now through its Series A financing.”
Hydrogen from renewable electricity is widely seen as a very promising and immediate path to tackling the “hard to decarb” sectors of industry like fertilizers, chemicals, steel, and even bulk energy storage and transport. Because of its unique ability to address these and other emerging applications, the global market for clean hydrogen is expected to grow dramatically and could rival the market for natural gas if it can be produced at a compelling price.
“In infrastructure and industry, cost drives decisions,” said Derek Warnick, CFO. “That’s why we are laser-focused on delivering green hydrogen at a cost that’s competitive with fossil fuels. When doing the right thing is actually the lowest cost option, the market will shift very quickly.”
By completely re-imagining the design and manufacture of hydrogen electrolysis systems matched to renewable power sources, Electric Hydrogen’s mission is to generate truly green hydrogen for a post-carbon world. “Electrification will play a huge role in reducing carbon emissions, but over a third of emissions come from industrial sectors that are hard to directly electrify,” said EVP of Engineering Dorian West. “Low-cost fossil-free hydrogen provides a compelling pathway to decarbonize these dirty industries, which operate at massive scales.”
As Electric Hydrogen expands its operations in the Greater Boston and San Francisco Bay Areas, the company is hiring to expand its team and accelerate its efforts. “Our founding team has dedicated decades to the transformation of the grid and transportation sectors, and now we’re bringing that experience to the emerging needs of the industrial sectors,” said CTO David Eaglesham. “We’re building an amazing team and looking for passionate and creative technical, business and operations rockstars to join us in our mission to leave the world cleaner than we found it, without sacrificing the prosperity of future generations.”
“We see an exciting opportunity to reinvent electrolysis to make green hydrogen at fossil-parity prices within this decade,” said CEO Raffi Garabedian. “The keys will be to directly harness very low-cost intermittent renewable energy through radically cost-effective large-scale equipment. We’re honored to be backed by visionary climate-tech investors, and together with the engineers and scientists on our team, we’re hard at work to enable a clean and abundant future.”
About Electric Hydrogen
Founded by experienced renewable energy technologists and backed by committed mission-driven investors, Electric Hydrogen is building solutions to help cost-effectively decarbonize the massive industrial sectors that we all rely on. At Electric Hydrogen we’re thinking big and with urgency to decarbonize the physical world. Visit www.eh2.com to learn more.
About Breakthrough Energy Ventures
Backed by many of the world’s top business leaders, Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) invests in cutting-edge companies that will lead the world to net-zero emissions. BEV has more than $2 billion in committed capital to support bold entrepreneurs building companies that can significantly reduce emissions from agriculture, buildings, electricity, manufacturing, and transportation. BEV’s strategy links government-funded research and patient, risk-tolerant capital to bring transformative clean energy innovations to market as quickly as possible.
The first fund was created in 2016 as part of the Breakthrough Energy network of initiatives and entities, which include investment funds, nonprofit and philanthropic programs, and policy efforts linked by a shared commitment to scale the technologies needed to address climate change and achieve a path to net zero emissions by 2050. Visit www.breakthroughenergy.org to learn more.
About Prelude Ventures
Prelude Ventures is a venture capital firm dedicated to advancing the low-carbon economy. The firm invests in exceptional entrepreneurs across a range of sectors including advanced energy, food & agriculture, transportation and logistics, advanced materials and manufacturing, and advanced computing. Prelude Ventures was founded in 2013 and is based in San Francisco. Learn more at www.preludeventures.com.
About Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund
The Technology Impact Fund (TIF) is a venture capital partnership that invests in companies developing and scaling novel engineering-based solutions to climate change and other global challenges. TIF’s investment process is grounded in comprehensive perspectives on long-term, global trends in technology, transportation, power, storage, efficiency, semiconductors, aerospace, sensors, earth data, and analytics. TIF is an early investor in iconic companies including Tesla, Joby Aviation, SpaceX, QuantumScape, Redwood Materials, Planet Labs, Saildrone, Nuvia and Innovium.
Capricorn Investment Group is an investment firm founded to demonstrate that it is possible to invest profitably while driving sustainable positive change. Capricorn manages about $7B in assets for investors who strive for extraordinary investment results by leveraging market forces to accelerate large-scale impact. Learn more at www.capricornllc.com.
