2023.03.24
SK Innovation makes additional US$50 investment in U.S. clean energy startup
By Kim Seung-yeon, Yonhap
News Agency - SK Innovation Co., a major South Korean energy company, said
Thursday it has invested an additional US$50 million in Amogy Inc., a U.S.
developer of an ammonia-based fuel cell platform, expanding the investment in
sustainable fuels.
SK Innovation took
part in the latest $139 million Series B-1 funding round for Amogy, the company
said in a release. This follows SK Innovation's initial $30 million investment
in the Brooklyn-based startup in July last year.
Other investors in
the financing round included Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, Temasek, a
venture unit of Saudi Arabia's Aramco, Japan's Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. and
British venture capital firm AP Ventures.
Series A fundings
take place to finance a startup's initial product development, and the Series B
is usually intended to take the business to the next stage. Series C financings
are for market expansion.
Amogy succeeded in
the $20 million seed funding in December 2021 and a bridge funding of $46
million in June 2022.
Established in 2020,
Amogy has developed a fuel cell system that directly turns liquid ammonia into
hydrogen while on board. Through the on-board cracking of ammonia, hydrogen is
sent into the fuel cell platform to power the vehicle.
Liquid ammonia has
an energy density about three times greater than compressed hydrogen, making it
cost-effective to store and transport.
Amogy carried out a
successful test-drive in January this year of a semitruck running on its
ammonia-based fuel cell system for several hours.
The company's first
test with its ammonia power solution was on a 5 kilowatt drone in July 2021. It
successfully carried out another test on a 100 kW tractor in May 2022.
It is working on a
full-scale test on the truck under a broader blueprint to eventually expand the
application of its ammonia-to-power solutions to shipping, including tugboats
and barges.
Source: https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20230322008900320?section=economy-finance/economy