Sign up here to subscribe to the Grower2grower Ezine. Every two weeks you will receive new articles, specific to the protected cropping industry, informing you of industry news and events straight to your inbox.
Oct 2023
EIFO and Novo Holdings lead €14M round in Power-to-Peroxide pioneer HPNow
HPNow, the pioneer in electrification of the hydrogen peroxide industry, announced the successful closing of a €14M round.
The equity round is led by The Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO) together with Novo Holdings. Other investors in the round include MatiTech – a sustainable water treatment solution provider in Sub Sahara, and existing investors Evonik Venture Capital and AP Ventures.
HPNow’s breakthrough electrochemical technology enables the safe and sustainable generation of a powerful green oxidant directly on site, using only water and electricity as inputs. The output solution breaks down to pure water and oxygen following use. HPNow is bringing to market a greener alternative to the conventional fossil-fuel based centralized production, transportation and handling of bulk hydrogen peroxide, offsetting as much as three tons of CO2eq per ton of hydrogen peroxide generated on site, compared to standard production techniques.
With applications across agriculture, process water, and the food and beverage sectors, HPNow’s solutions provide not only a sustainable alternative but an economically viable one, with strong payback as compared to traditional chemical-based water treatment. The company’s solutions can further be utilized towards the breakdown of hazardous micro-pollutants in drinking water originating from pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and O&G industries.
Proceeds from this round of financing will primarily be used towards the scaling up of HPNow’s marketing, sales, technical support and production capacity, in order to address growing market demand.
“Danish Power-to-X pioneers like HPNow are leading the way to a more sustainable future. From agriculture to industry, their technology, originally developed at the Technical University of Denmark, represents a multi-billion euro market opportunity for safe, sustainable and affordable water treatment,” said Investment Director at EIFO, Jonas Bjaaland.
“For EIFO it is important to ensure that green capex intensive pioneers like HPNow can scale up and make their technology available for the world market. We do that by closing the funding gap with equity for now but will also at a later stage be able to provide debt and export credit in corporation with commercial banks. With this group of investors HPNow can take big steps towards achieving not only the world market goal but also the UN Sustainable Development Goals,” he added.
“Water is a vital resource for our planet and the people that inhabit it. With our investment we are striving to benefit people and the planet, so this endeavour into sustainable water treatment is a logical step for us. HPNow’s hydrogen peroxide generation technology contributes to the responsible use of one of the most precious resources we have, and we are very pleased to join the company on this journey,” Marcus Remmers, Partner at Bioindustrial Investments, Novo Holdings, added.
“This new investment round, led by top-tier investors EIFO and Novo Holdings, represents a strong endorsement of our technology and market offerings, and will enable us to take a major leap forward in our company’s development. With the strong backing of new and existing partners, our company is ready to take sustainable on-site peroxide generation to the next level,” said Ziv Gottesfeld, CEO at HPNow.
About HPNow
HPNow addresses growing global challenges in clean water and sanitation through its range of on-site, autonomous, safe, and sustainable ultra-pure hydrogen peroxide generation solutions. HPNow was spun out of the Danish Technical University (DTU) in 2015, and is now headquartered in Copenhagen, with sales representation across Europe, the Americas and Asia. HPNow’s solutions address water treatment professionals’ needs in market segments ranging from agriculture to industrial and drinking water treatment. HPNow is a technology and market leader in on-site generation of hydrogen peroxide and is continuously striving to further advance its technology and products in order to meet growing market needs and rising global demand.
About EIFO
The Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO) is the national promotional bank and export credit agency of Denmark combined in one new financial institution. EIFO provides a single point of access for Danish companies as well as for their foreign and domestic business partners who need risk-tolerant government capital. EIFOs main objective is to support Danish companies which can green the globe.
About Novo Holdings
Novo Holdings is a holding and investment company that is responsible for managing the assets and the wealth of the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The purpose of Novo Holdings is to improve people’s health and the sustainability of society and the planet by generating attractive long-term returns on the assets of the Novo Nordisk Foundation.
Wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Novo Holdings is the controlling shareholder of Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S and manages an investment portfolio with a long-term return perspective. In addition to managing a broad portfolio of equities, bonds, real estate, infrastructure and private equity assets, Novo Holdings is a world-leading life sciences investor. Through its Seeds, Venture, Growth, and Principal Investments teams, Novo Holdings invests in life science companies at all stages of development.
As of year-end 2022, Novo Holdings had total assets of EUR 108 billion.
About MatiTech
MatiTech Solutions specializes in transforming water from diverse sources into usable assets for various applications. MatiTech prides itself on offering cutting-edge technologies and expertise in the field of water treatment. MatiTech stands by its commitment to provide sustainable water treatment solutions in Sub-Saharan Africa.
About Evonik Venture Capital
Evonik Venture Capital generates strategic value and growth opportunities through investing and partnering with innovative start-up companies. With a fund size of €400 million, Evonik Venture Capital has made about 50 investments since 2012, both direct and fund investments. The investment scope ranges from early stage to growth stage with an investment volume of up to €15 million per portfolio company. From its office in Germany, the USA and China, EVC invests in innovative technologies in the areas of Nutrition & Care, Smart Materials, Specialty Additives and Digitalization, as well as in technologies to support Evonik’s Sustainability Strategy.
About AP Ventures
AP Ventures is headquartered in London and manages venture capital funds with a global mandate to invest in pioneering new technologies and businesses which aim to solve global challenges such as renewable energy integration and resource scarcity. AP Ventures has been investing in the hydrogen industry since 2013 and is recognised as a leading venture capital fund across this value chain. AP Ventures manages USD 395m of assets on behalf of 12 LPs and has invested in more than 20 technology companies across the hydrogen value chain.
Stay in the loop by following HPNow on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.