Raised through equity, Hystar has said the capital injection will also be used to grow its Oslo headquarters, anticipated to open early this year (2023), expand into new markets, and to deliver projects over 100MW in size.

Co-led by AP Ventures and Mitsubishi Corporation, new investors Finnindus, Nippon Steel Trading, Hillhouse Investment, and Trustbridge Partners, join existing investors, SINTEF Ventures and Firda.

Designed for mass manufacturing, Hystar has regularly described its electrolysers as the ‘most efficient’ in the world, boasting a unique, patented design with membrane 90% thinner than conventional electrolysers, which it says can enable production of up to 150% more green hydrogen.

Read more: Game-changing electrolyser technology – An interview with Hystar

Watch what Tina Andersen, Head of Sales and Applications Engineering at Hystar, said about the company’s technology at gasworld’s MENA Industrial Gases Conference in December 2022:

“Since our inception, we have been committed to rapidly scaling up to ensure the widespread commercial deployment of our game-changing technology,” said Fredrik Mowill, CEO of Hystar. “We are therefore excited to have closed our Series B funding round with such high-quality industrial and financial investors who can contribute to accelerating our growth.”

Speaking to H2 View, Mowill explained that the capital raise would offer the company some ability to build up its capacities to go after larger commercial projects and also scale-up its production volumes, explaining the latest investors could become Hystar’s future customers.

“We’re pleased to have three major industrial players in the form of Mitsubishi, Nippon Steel and Finnidus, which has a strong partnership with ArcelorMital,” he told H2 View. “They are all potentially very large customers of ours in the future, and some of them will be a supplier to us. Combined with the backing of very strong financial investors, the raise is very important to us.”

Read more: Hystar CEO speaks to H2 View about $26m capital raise

Mowill added that as the company begins to scale it will pursue large-scale industrial applications for its future deployments, reflecting the investors that have backed the raise, and projects already announced.

In September 2022, Hystar revealed fertiliser giant Yara Clean Ammonia had joined its HyPilot Project with Equinor which will see the first in-field test of Hystar’s 1MW containerised electrolyser at a Gassco operated gas processing plant in Norway.

Read more: Yara Clean Ammonia joins Hystar’s HyPilot project in Norway

Charlie Clark, Investment Manager at AP Ventures, said, “We are pleased to have co-led this Series B funding round alongside Mitsubishi Corporation to enable Hystar to deploy automated capacity to scale the production of its world-leading PEM electrolyser technology. We look forward to continuing to support Hystar as it works to produce ultra-efficient green hydrogen which will be vital to support global efforts to decarbonise industry and society.”

Toshihiro Hayashi, General Manager, Mineral Resources Group at Mitsubishi Corporation, said that hydrogen has become a key focus of Mitsubishi and believed that Hystar’s technology “has the potential to significantly impact its [hydrogen’s] large-scale deployment.”

“A lower cost and increased flexibility of green hydrogen production is the key to success when it comes to the role hydrogen has to play in decarbonising our society. This is exactly what the Hystar technology provides,” added Hans Maenhout, Investment Director at Finnidus.

Maenhout continued, “Add to that the intrinsic safety of Hystar’s electrolysers, as well as the design for mass-manufacturing approach which allows for utilising existing supply chains, and you have an excellent value proposition to offer to industrial customers such as ArcelorMittal, the world’s second largest steel manufacturer and Finindus’ key industrial partner.”

Luke Li, Founding Partner at Hillhouse Investment, noted the need for global industry to decarbonise, commenting, “Hystar understands that, and its plans to commercialisation in partnership with major industry players will pave the way for significant progress and a greener future – a vision Hillhouse is proud to support.”

Magnus Thomassen, Chief Product Officer at Hystar will be speaking at H2 View’s An Ecosystem for Green Hydrogen summit in Reykjavík, Iceland on February 28 – March 2, 2023, offering exclusive insight into the company’s innovative technology.

More information about the event can be found at http://www.h2-viewevents.com/.