- Norwegian hydrogen company Hystar secured $26 million in funding from Japanese industrials Mitsubishi and Nippon Steel Trading to scale up its electrolyser production.
- The company is also working on a pilot project for producing green ammonia, supported by domestic partners Equinor and Yara.
On Wednesday, Norwegian hydrogen company Hystar secured $26 million in funding from Japanese industrials Mitsubishi and Nippon Steel Trading to scale up its electrolyser production. Mitsubishi Corporation co-led the funding round together with London-based fund AP Ventures, an existing investor, Hystar Chief Executive Fredrik Mowill told Reuters. He said, “We wanted to bring along some very large international industrial investors to help to develop the business, who could not only invest cash, but that can also help grow the business.” In addition, the two companies accounted for about half of the raised capital.
“Green hydrogen is one of the key focuses for Mitsubishi Corporation and we believe Hystar’s unique technology has the potential to impact its large-scale deployment significantly,” Toshihiro Hayashi, general manager of Mitsubishi’s mineral resources group, said in a statement. Electrolysers produce green hydrogen by splitting water with electricity, allowing for the decarbonisation of otherwise hard-to-abate industry sectors. Hystar says its technology will use 10% less energy than currently available models and is easy to scale up.
Mowill said the fresh capital injection would help set up an automated production line, support sales and marketing operations and finance staff expansion, with Hystar seeking to double its current number of employees from 30. The company is also working on a pilot project for producing green ammonia, supported by domestic partners Equinor and Yara.