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Bill Gates, right, gets hands on with Modern Hydrogen’s carbon black. (Gates Ventures Photo)
Woodinville, Wash.-based clean tech startup Modern Hydrogen raised $25 million in new funding.
The company confirmed the new investment after GeekWire spotted a regulatory filing. Existing and new investors participated in the latest round.
“We plan to talk more about our new strategic partnerships after the New Year that expands into new markets, and how we can enhance the value of existing gas infrastructure already on the ground, and speed up carbon capture and utilization,” Modern Hydrogen CEO Tony Pan said in a statement.
Modern Hydrogen has developed a device for cracking natural gas molecules, producing hydrogen for fuel and a product known as solid carbon that has a variety of industrial applications — including as a key ingredient in asphalt.
The company’s methane pyrolysis reactor takes natural gas from fossil fuels or biogas from sources like manure to make pure hydrogen. The hydrogen fuel burns cleanly, producing water vapor as a byproduct. It can be used for energy production, in industrial processes like steel manufacturing, and in fuel cells.
Bill Gates, an investor in the company, visited its headquarters earlier this year and filled a pothole with asphalt produced from Modern Hydrogen’s system.
Modern Hydrogen got its start in 2015 at Intellectual Ventures, an innovation hub created by former Microsoft researcher Nathan Myhrvold with backing from Gates. The startup, which was originally called Modern Electron, initially focused on devices that paired with home furnaces and hot water tanks to capture the appliances’ wasted heat and turn it into electricity.
Pan co-founded the company with CTO Max Mankin.
The company has raised more than $100 million, including a $32.8 million round in May 2023, and employs around 80 people, according to LinkedIn. It is ranked No. 193 on the GeekWire 200, our list of top privately held startups in the Pacific Northwest.
