Hydrogen start-up Sunfire secures 315 million euros

The Dresden-based hydrogen start-up Sunfire has raised 315 million euros in fresh money. In a financing round, the company raised 215 million euros from old and new investors, as the company announced on Tuesday. "The successful financing round underlines the leading role of the European hydrogen and cleantech industry," explained Sunfire CEO Nils Aldag. "I am delighted that we have gained further investors who not only support our vision, but also have confidence in our products and our ability to deliver industrial electrolyzers quickly and in large quantities." In addition to the new investors, such as the Liechtenstein private bank LGT, existing shareholders also increased their investments, including a climate fund from the mail order company Amazon, according to the press release.

In addition, there is a loan of up to 100 million euros from the European Investment Bank (EIB), according to the statement. EIB Vice-President Nicola Beer said in a statement that the bank was pleased to support Sunfire's innovative technology. "The development of an industrial business environment for green hydrogen is crucial to enable energy-intensive industries to make the green transition." The basis for this is scalable, reliable and efficient electrolysers. Sunfire also has access to around 200 million in already approved funding to finance growth.

Sunfire has set itself the goal of installing several gigawatts of electrolysis plants in large-scale projects for "green hydrogen" by 2030. Electrolysers are technical devices that can be used to produce large quantities of hydrogen from renewable electricity. Green hydrogen is considered an important building block for the energy transition. The multi-million euro cash injection for Sunfire is remarkable, as the financing conditions for start-ups have deteriorated significantly with the rise in interest rates.

In August of last year, Sunfire had already received 162 million euros in state funding. Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and Saxony's Economics Minister Martin Dulig (SPD) presented the company with the funding decision. The state of Saxony is contributing 30 percent of the funding.

In Dresden, Sunfire plans to manufacture electrolysers in two forms - pressurized alkaline and high-temperature technology. In North Rhine-Westphalia, Sunfire is planning a production landscape for alkaline electrolysers.