Stargate Hydrogen, a company based in Tallinn, Estonia, has raised €11 million in a Series A funding round, following a successful seed round of €42 million. The investment comes from a mix of strategic customers in renewable energy and utilities, including Giga and UG Investments, as well as the SmartCap Green Fund. The company is focused on developing electrolysis systems that replace precious metals with ceramic-based catalysts, a technology that improves energy efficiency and reduces production costs. Stargate’s proprietary technology aims to lower the cost of green hydrogen, making it more viable for industries like steel manufacturing to reduce CO2 emissions. The new funding will enable the company to expand its manufacturing capacity, enhance internal testing, and build strategic partnerships in the green hydrogen sector.
Affordable green hydrogen is the key to decoupling the production of chemicals and commodities (like steel) from CO2 emissions. Stargate Hydrogen is developing reliable production equipment that will radically bring down the cost of green hydrogen by operating at higher efficiency compared to the existing solutions. Instead of precious metals, Stargate is using ceramic-based catalyst material that allows to lower energy consumption while keeping the investment needs low.
Stargate has developed a proprietary stack technology, focused on increasing the reliability of hydrogen production across the project lifecycle and minimizing the degradation of the equipment. Those innovations improve the unit economics of the company’s products and raise the return on investment for the green hydrogen project developers.
The performance of Stargate stacks has been validated by ZSW in Stuttgart, a leading test center of electrolysis equipment in Europe. The company’s proprietary technology has been recognized by the European Commission as an Important Project of Common European Interest. Recently, Stargate was selected by Fortum, a major Nordic utility company, as the supplier for its alkaline electrolysis plant in Loviisa, Finland.
“We are thrilled to have SmartCap and Giga joining our ownership structure, along with additional investment from UGI,” said Marko Virkebau, CEO of Stargate Hydrogen. “To have strategic customers investing into the company is the strongest testament to the progress we made. This funding gives us firepower to execute our roadmap, enhance our production capabilities, and provide our customers with electrolysis technology that allows significant cost-down on the price of green hydrogen. Our view is that only companies with unique, proprietary technology will survive through the current green hydrogen market cycle.”
The financing round includes strategic customers with backgrounds in renewable energy and utilities such as Giga and UG Investments, accompanied by SmartCap Green Fund, a state-backed venture capital fund investing in greentech companies with global ambitions.
“We decided to invest in Stargate Hydrogen due to their highly innovative approach to green hydrogen production, accompanied by an impressive list of customers and strong unit economics. Funding the scale of manufacturing of innovative green technologies is central to the green transition and our strategic objectives, as it enables wider adoption of sustainable energy solutions,” said Sille Pettai, CEO of SmartCap and manager of SmartCap Green Fund, funded by the European Union’s NextGenerationEU.
With this funding, Stargate Hydrogen will scale its manufacturing capacity, significantly expand its internal testing capabilities, and establish key strategic partnerships with the leading players in the global green hydrogen ecosystem.
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Read the orginal article: https://arcticstartup.com/stargate-hydrogen-raises-e11m-series-a/
