Universal Hydrogen Closes New $ 62 Million Funding Round; the oversubscribed round was completed less than six months after the company’s Series A (previous item), bringing the total raised to $ 85 million. New investors in the cycle include Mitsubishi HC Capital; Tencent; Stratos; GE Aviation; Valse Mathilde Aviation; Fourth Kingdom; Hawk tail; TIME Ventures by Marc Benioff; 75 by Jeff Wilke and Spencer Rascoff; and Sunny Ventures.

This funding will allow Universal Hydrogen to perform the first test flight of its hydrogen fuel cell powertrain on a 40-passenger regional airliner in 2022 in Moses Lake, Washington.

Green hydrogen for flight will be delivered using Universal Hydrogen’s modular fuel capsules which enable the delivery of hydrogen from the point of production directly to the aircraft using the existing cargo network and equipment. handling of airport cargo without the need for new infrastructure.

The proprietary modular capsule technology is significantly lighter than the current state of the art in hydrogen storage and is designed from the first principles of flight and ground transportation safety certification.

Life-size prototype of the hydrogen gas module of Universal Hydrogen, with a capsule removed.

The company expects to enter commercial service in 2025 with a certified modernization conversion kit for existing ATR 72 and De Havilland Canada Dash-8 regional airliners and a green hydrogen fuel service offering. Together, these will provide regional operators with a unit economy equivalent to or better than conventional jet fuel-powered aircraft variants.

Universal Hydrogen has secured a significant pipeline of commercial orders, including previously announced LOIs from Icelandair, Air Nostrum, Ravn Alaska and ASL Aviation Holdings.

While regional aviation represents a significant market opportunity and an important early point of proof in the fight against climate change, it represents only a small fraction of total aviation emissions. If we want to decarbonize the industry by the Paris Agreement horizon, the global fleet of narrow-body airliners must run on hydrogen from the 2030s onwards. There is no alternative technology. known to make it happen.

—Paul Eremenko, co-founder and CEO of Universal Hydrogen

To this end, the company is committed to working with all key stakeholders, including airlines, lessors, aircraft and engine manufacturers, to ensure that the next generation of narrow-body aircraft (which succeeds the 737 and A320 families), i.e. true zero-emission vehicles.

The severity of climate change is forcing a tipping point in the green hydrogen ecosystem of producers, distributors and consumers. Universal Hydrogen has the cutting edge technology, a talented team and operational urgency to become the distribution leader in this hydrogen ecosystem. As early stage investors, we are proud to continue to support their efforts in any way we can.

—Jim Adler, Founding Managing Director of Toyota Ventures

Based in Los Angeles, California, with an engineering center in Toulouse, France, and a flight test center in Moses Lake, Washington, Universal Hydrogen is rapidly growing its team.