South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Company has teamed up with Beijing-Tsinghua Industrial R&D Institute (BTIRDI), a Chinese engineering institute, to jointly raise around $100 million for a fund that invests in hydrogen energy startups.
Hyundai Motor and Yield Capital, an investment unit under BTIRDI, will manage Hydrogen Energy Industry Fund, which will support startups with innovative ideas on hydrogen technology and infrastructure building.
The fund also aims to attract investments from leading venture capital firms based in China, Europe, and the US, according to a joint statement announcing the fund’s launch.
“The binational initiative’s primary objective is to spur investment in the hydrogen industry and value chain while also fostering growth of promising startups in China and Korea,” Hyundai Motor and Yield Capital said.
More specifically, the fund will seek for innovative companies that possess various hydrogen-related infrastructures and leadership in core hydrogen technologies.
It will harness its collective expertise in hydrogen technologies to conduct detailed analyses on the investment candidates’ future growth potential, in order to “make the best investment that would benefit the entire industry and ecosystem”.
The Hydrogen Energy Industry Fund’s contributions will not be limited to mere equity investments, but will involve active and systematic support based on each member’s incubating programs and corporate venture capital (CVC) strategies, the fund managers said.
“The collaboration is an important first step in advancing the global hydrogen ecosystem and our strong foundation of trust will present many growth opportunities for the partnership,” said Hyundai Motor Group (China) Ltd Executive Vice President Hsiu Fu Wang.
The establishment of the hydrogen energy-focused fund comes as the Chinese government is also targeting a large-scale deployment of 1 million fuel cell electric vehicles and 1,000 refill stations by 2030.
Founded in 2014, Yield Capital has made a number of investments in the hydrogen industry and value chain, including companies that produce and store hydrogen, as well as fuel cell stack and fuel cell system developers.
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