Israeli start-up H2Pro backed by Li Ka-shing and Bill Gates joins race to make hydrogen cheaper

H2Pro has raised US$22 million to scale up its technology from the lab to the factory floor

By tweaking the current methodology, H2Pro says it will be able to make green hydrogen for US$1 per kg by the second half of this decade

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Tycoon Li Ka-shing has invested in Israeli start-up H2Pro. Photo: Felix Wong

Published: 4:34pm, 9 Mar 2021Updated: 4:34pm, 9 Mar 2021

Israeli start-up H2Pro joined the race to make cheap green hydrogen after securing investments from funds backed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing.

As governments and industries get serious about cutting greenhouse gas emissions, demand has grown for hydrogen produced by splitting water – using renewable electricity – as a potential carbon-free fuel to replace coal, oil and natural gas. H2Pro said on Tuesday it raised US$22 million to move its technology from the lab to the factory floor. Japan’s Sumitomo and carmaker Hyundai Motor also invested.

Hydrogen is likely to be a crucial part of decarbonising industries like steel and cement, and perhaps also shipping and aviation – given the limits of current battery technology. Until now, however, green hydrogen has not been widely adopted because it’s quite expensive to produce.

“We definitely see a worldwide market for these devices,” said Talmon Marco, H2Pro’s chief executive. “When we started the company back in 2019, it was much more difficult to have a conversation with investors about hydrogen. And today it’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, absolutely. Hydrogen is happening’.”

Bill Gates has also invested in Israeli start-up H2Pro. Photo: Reuters

Marco earlier co-founded the messaging and calling app Viber, which was acquired by Rakuten for US$900 million in 2014. He then co-founded and led the ride-hailing app Juno until it was bought by Gett for US$200 million in 2017.

H2Pro’s technology is similar to the alkaline electrolysers that are most commonly used today to make green hydrogen, but with a crucial twist. When water is split, the current process uses electrical energy not just to break the hydrogen and oxygen atoms apart, but also to pair two hydrogen atoms and two oxygen atoms, respectively, to make the separate gases.