Koloma startup backed by Bill Gates to find white hydrogen
February 15, 2024The company recently raised $246 million to support its efforts to drill for naturally occurring H2.
Clean fuel startup Koloma, a company backed by Bill Gates, has completed its largest round of funding yet, bringing in $246 million to support their goals to drill for white hydrogen deposits.
This funding round’s backers include some very large names.
Among the backers that invested in the latest funding round for the company behind the white hydrogen drilling project included Amazon, Khosla Ventures and United.
The company’s target is to achieve a leadership position in this new industry seeking naturally occurring underground deposits of H2. The idea is that extracting this gas provides a clean way to source a fuel that can be used without the production of greenhouse gases.
DoE grant for finding white hydrogen
Koloma had already previously announced that it was the recipient of a research grant from a program from the US Department of Energy (DoE) for locating natural H2 deposits and extracting them for use as a clean fuel. In fact, it was only the day after that announcement that the company then made a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission in which it disclosed the new funding amount.
The grant is meant to be used for research into refining methods to stimulate production of white hydrogen underground, which can then be extracted.
Existing backers include Bill Gates
The new backers such as Amazon, Kholsa Ventures and United have joined the startup’s existing big name backers including Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures as well as Energy Impact Partners. In total, the startup has brought in over $350 million in its funding rounds to date.
“We’re grateful to be backed by some of the world’s leading companies and investors in our recent fundraise,” said Koloma co-founder and chief business officer Paul Harraka.
The white hydrogen company has done its homework into H2 drilling and extraction.
Koloma has been working on the commercialization of a broad spectrum of research conducted by Tom Darrah, its co-founder and CTO, as well as a geologist from Ohio State University. Darrah has studied the location of white hydrogen reservoirs for years and has been focused on where they are most likely to be found. He has also worked on methods the oil and gas industry has developed in order to improve the extraction process.
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My opinion is that most sources of hydrogen are white, like geothermal, nuclear, wind/solar, ethanol, etc. and the only methods that are not are those that use a dirty source of electricity. But this is still great to hear.
The hydrogen may be white but the methods to extract it may not be.