As Hydrogen Emerges As a Clean Energy Option, H2scan Raises $70 Million

David Shultz

David Shultz reports on clean technology and electric vehicles, among other industries, for dot.LA. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Outside, Nautilus and many other publications.

As Hydrogen Emerges As a Clean Energy Option, H2scan Raises $70 Million
Photo by Andrea Leopardi on Unsplash

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Hydrogen is having a moment in Southern California. The first element on the periodic table is rapidly emerging as a green alternative to natural gas. But for every hydrogen battery, electrolyzer or pipeline being proposed, a sensor is required: Hydrogen gas, as you may remember from high school chemistry class, is extremely flammable.


For H2scan, there’s big money in not blowing stuff up en route to a greener economy. On Tuesday, the Valencia-based hydrogen sensor company unveiled a $70 million capital raise that will be used to develop its technology, expand its manufacturing and bolster its sales and marketing operations. U.K.-based investment group LetterOne led the funding alongside South Korean energy company GS Energy. (H2scan also announced David Meyers, a former executive at engineering consulting firm Altran, as its new chief operating officer on Tuesday.)

H2scan’s sensors consist of a palladium-nickel crystal lattice that traps individual hydrogen molecules; when hydrogen binds to the palladium, it causes the electrical resistance of the lattice to change. With the help of algorithms, that change in resistance can be used to calculate exactly how much hydrogen is moving through the sensor—and whether it’s approaching dangerous levels.

“Because of our patented technology, where it's lower cost and more reliable and more accurate, we feel that puts us in a prime position to be the number one go-to—the golden standard for hydrogen sensing in the world,” H2scan founder, president and CEO Dennis Reid told dot.LA. “The bottom line is we want to be in every pipeline, we want to be in every electrolyzer and we want to be in every home. And we feel that we now definitely have the capital to get there.”

Founded in 2002, the company went to market with its hydrogen sensors in 2012 and has since deployed more than 20,000 units for applications including petrochemical refineries, nuclear facilities, semiconductor manufacturing, plastics production and food sciences. (H2scan’s customers include ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron, Procter & Gamble, Siemens and ABB.) Reid is quick to note that they’ve never had a single sensor fail.

One growing area that will certainly need quality hydrogen sensors in the future is pipelines. Last week, Southern California’s primary gas utility, SoCalGas, revealed its plans for a hydrogen pipeline system as part of its goal to fully decarbonize its operations by 2045.

As energy companies increasingly turn to hydrogen, “There will be new safety requirements for avoiding an accident, because the hydrogen will very likely be mixed with some other gasses to avoid risky situations,” according to Jerzy Szpunar, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Saskatchewan who studies hydrogen generation and storage.

Reid says that H2scan’s sensors are particularly well-suited for pipeline applications due to their ability to pick out hydrogen molecules against a background of other compounds. In addition to expanding its production facility in Valencia, H2scan will also use the new funding to reduce the manufacturing cost of its sensors by consolidating many of the supporting electronics into a dedicated circuit—a move that could bring the price per sensor down from around $9,000 to just $2,000 for some applications.

Making hydrogen power more affordable is key to California’s transition to clean energy, and H2scan wants to be at the center of the conversation, according to Reid. “We want to take our core technology and then create a product for every single application within the hydrogen economy,” he said.

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LA Tech ‘Moves’: LeaseLock, Visgenx, PlayVS and Pressed Juicery Gains New CEOs

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

LA Tech ‘Moves’: LeaseLock, Visgenx, PlayVS and Pressed Juicery Gains New CEOs
LA Tech ‘Moves’:

“Moves,” our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.

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LeaseLock, a lease insurance and financial technology provider for the rental housing industry named Janine Steiner Jovanovic as chief executive officer. Prior to this role, Steiner Jovanovic served as the former EVP of Asset Optimization at RealPage.

Esports platform PlayVS hired EverFi co-founder and seasoned business leader Jon Chapman as the company’s chief executive officer.

Biotechnology company Visgenx appointed William Pedranti, J.D. as chief executive officer. Before joining, Mr. Pedranti was a partner with PENG Life Science Ventures.

Pressed Juicery, the leading cold-pressed juice and functional wellness brand welcomed Justin Nedelman as chief executive officer. His prior roles include chief real estate officer of FAT Brands Inc. and co-founder of Eureka! Restaurant Group.

Michael G. Vicari joined liquid biopsy company Nucleix as chief commercial officer. Vicari served as senior vice president of Sales at GRAIL, Inc.

Full-service performance marketing agency Allied Global Marketing promoted Erin Corbett to executive vice president of global partnership and marketing. Prior to joining Allied, Corbett's experience included senior marketing roles at Disney, Warner Bros. Studios, Harrah's Entertainment and Imagi Animation Studios.

Nuvve, a vehicle-to-grid technology company tapped student transportation and automotive sales and marketing executive David Bercik to lead the K-12 student transportation division.

This Week in ‘Raises’: Curri Scoops Up $42M, Mosaic Scores $26M

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

Raises
Image by Joshua Letona

A local logistics platform raised fresh funding to put toward product development, infrastructure and sales and marketing initiatives, while a San Diego-based fintech company closed its Series C funding round to expand its investment in AI which will empower high-growth SMB and mid-market finance leaders.

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Venture Capital

Curri, a Ventura-based logistics platform, raised a $42 million Series B funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners.

San Diego-based financial platform Mosaic raised a $26 million Series C funding round led by OMERS Ventures.

AHARA, a Los Angeles-based startup focused on providing personalized nutrition suggestions, raised a $10.25 million seed funding round led by Greycroft.

Per an SEC filing, San Diego-based developer of peptide therapeutics designed to assist in the treatment of autoimmune diseases and disorders selectIon raised $5 million in funding.

Miscellaneous

Los Angeles-based Sensydia, a company working on non-invasive cardiac diagnostics, said this morning that it has received $3 million in a NIH grant.

Raises is dot.LA’s weekly feature highlighting venture capital funding news across Southern California’s tech and startup ecosystem. Please send fundraising news to Decerry Donato (decerrydonato@dot.la).

'Esports Winter’ is a Myth, Local Gaming Execs Say

Samson Amore

Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.

'Esports Winter’ is a Myth, Local Gaming Execs Say
Samson Amore

Last year, global venture capital investment in esports dropped by more than 40%. Investors have been rapidly selling off teams and franchises, and the industry has witnessed a consistent decline in ad spend. This has prompted many critics to coin the term “esports winter,” referring to a fall-off in the industry, an indication that VCs believe their investments didn’t achieve success as expected.

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