Jul 27, 2022

Off-grid hydrogen startup Hydrologiq secures £630,000 investment to replace diesel generators with clean hydrogen power. Ben Lindley Off-grid hydrogen startup closes £630,000 investment funding from venture capital and angels. Hydrologiq is replacing dirty diesel generators with clean hydrogen-powered generators, making construction sites, festivals, and filmsets cleaner, quieter places to work and play. The company’s vision of an emissions-free future now has the backing of four venture capital firms and a group of strategic and industry angels. This investment acts as a solid foundation from which the company will build out the Hydrologiq Platform – the planning and management platform for off-grid hydrogen deployments. Through the platform Hydrologiq simplifies the complex supply chain, processes, and business decisions that must be brought together to run hydrogen assets. The investment will also enable Hydrologiq to bring on new talent: an experienced Head of Product has already been found. SFC Capital, Britbots, Rockstart, Antler Round lead SFC Capital is the most active seed investor in the UK, providing capital and support to startups across the nation. Investor Adam Beveridge , said: “From a market perspective, SFC’s investment rationale was driven by the hard government drive in the area of Net-Zero and Hydrologiq providing an elegant solution to tackle the complexity around supplying and using hydrogen generators – a genuine answer to clean, silent, and portable off grid power. From a commercial perspective, if by 2030 just 50% of the 20,000 diesel generators sold each year are hydrogen generators, and 25% of those in operation consume hydrogen fuel, then this equates to £4.5bn in assets and fuel sales. Once paired with the ongoing interest in CleanTech investment at Series A and beyond, this made Hydrologiq an attractive investment proposition.” UK fund Britbots invests in autonomous technologies at the intersection of the digital and physical world. Dominic Keen , Managing Partner at Britbots, commented: “We are extremely excited to have become shareholders in Hydrologiq. The transformation of our economy away from fossil fuels is this generation’s industrial revolution and we are convinced that the pioneering approach taken by the Hydrologiq team will act as a guiding beacon for those that follow them in the energy transition towards hydrogen.” Early stage investor Rockstart has recently closed their EUR27m Energy Fund, and Hydrologiq is one of the first investments it has made in 2022. Max ter Horst , Managing Partner Energy, Rockstart, said: “We have invested in Hydrologiq, which is providing clean, silent and reliable energy for off-grid sites using hydrogen generators. This is a very valuable service for customers such as construction companies, who need to deal with increasingly stringent regulations on noise and emissions. Hydrologiq has a strong team which is uniquely positioned to address this opportunity with their in-depth market and regulatory understanding, superior supply chain access and powerful software platform.” Startup builder Antler has a combined global portfolio value of $1.8bn+. Antler Partner Antoine Poirson , said: “We are thrilled to join the Hydrologiq journey. We see a convergence of technical maturity and customer demand for H2 powered systems. Aran & Ben have been able to demonstrate this through customer demand, and are building a company that will grow the market rapidly.” Funding from strategic Angels and Advisors Hydrologiq is thrilled to have the support of renewable energy industry expert and angel investor Ranjit Mene . Alongside professional investors Vladimir Bondarenko and Kabir Chanrai , company advisor Tim Lawrence continues to support Hydrologiq through his expertise in setting up new supply chains and a further investment in this round. The round has also been generously supported by a number of other angel investors. Hydrologiq’s Next Steps Starting May 2022, Hydrologiq will be deploying a hydrogen-fuelled generator with deployment partners at a number of off-grid locations around the UK. Deployment partners include tier 1 construction contractors and a top-ten UK festival, alongside businesses in mining, film and TV. These deployments are supported by a grant project awarded to Hydrologiq by the UK government department BEIS. Read more and get involved here. Author Benjamin Lindley Ben is a serial entrepreneur with a specialism in operations and marketing. He entered the clean tech industry in 2018 to lead retail operations in a solar and energy startup, building processes to control the company’s rapid growth and managing an international team with offices in New Zealand and Fiji. PREVIOUSNEXT