Funding round led by specialist hydrogen investment vehicle Hy24
French hydrogen mobility start-up HysetCo has raised €200m in a funding round led by specialist hydrogen investment vehicle Hy24.
Created by Air Liquide, Idex, Step, and Toyota, HySet is aiming to deliver mobility as a service (MaaS) offering so customers have a single, integrated supplier for their hydrogen needs.
In addition to providing convenient access to its network of hydrogen distribution stations, HysetCo offers a range of vehicle-related services, such as procurement, maintenance, repair, insurance, and training.
The investment round, which was announced earlier this week, means Hy24 is now the majority shareholder in HysetCo, joining Air Liquide, Toyota France, and Kouros in supporting the company's development. RAISE Impact and Eiffel Investment Group also participated in the round.
Loïc Voisin, CEO of HysetCo, said the fund raise marked "the dawn of a new era for the firm".
"It heralds an era where we will expedite our expansion across France and Europe, thereby making an even more significant contribution to a tangible, swift, and effective transition toward a low-carbon society, while concurrently preserving air quality," he said.
HysetCo claims that by coordinating the simultaneous development of hydrogen infrastructure and services, it has developed "an integrated mobility solution to facilitate a system-wide transition to hydrogen".
It said that in the last three years, it had achieved 100 per cent annual growth in hydrogen mobility; converted 500 professionals, primarily taxi drivers, to its solution; and distributed nearly 30 tonnes of hydrogen each month.
The company is aiming to deploy a dozen new distribution stations by 2025, serving several thousand hydrogen vehicles.
The investment represents a major boost to the hydrogen mobility market, which is facing intense competition from battery electric vehicles that have carved out a major chunk of the automotive market in recent years. Advocates of hydrogen maintain it offers a better alternative for a range of applications, such as heavy goods vehicles. But critics counter battery electric technologies are increasingly likely to dominate all forms of road transport and hydrogen is more better reserved for use in a range of industrial processes.
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