France-headed pioneer and pure player in renewable hydrogen production Lhyfe has disclosed that it has raised EUR 17 million from compatriot investors in a third funding round. The purpose of this third fundraising is to support the company's strategy for the deployment of renewable hydrogen production sites in Europe.
Lhyfe has built a unique offering based on a turnkey hydrogen production and supply model that uses a local supply chain approach – green hydrogen is produced locally at sites powered by local renewable energy sources, to meet customers’ needs as closely as possible.
The company especially targets industry, communities, and transport companies, which have a real and exponential need for renewable hydrogen.
After a year marked by the commissioning of this first production site in Bouin, the recruitment of forty or so staff, and the raising of EUR 50 million, Lhyfe’s aim in 2022 is to double its sales, technical and R&D teams (from 80 to 170 staff) in order to reinforce its position as a leader for green hydrogen.
Successful third round
To support this expansion strategy, Lhyfe has secured EUR 17 million from French investors in a third financing round.
Most of the funds – EUR 15 million – came from Andera Partners, a leading private equity player in France via its new green infrastructure investment fund Andera Infra.
This new fundraising comes at a time of sharp acceleration in the market and in demand for renewable hydrogen all over Europe. We are very happy to have the support of a growing number of key green energy transition players like Andera Partners. Their precious support means that we can continue to seize the opportunities that arise to help make energy transition as virtuous and as fast as possible at a European level, said Matthieu Guesné, Founder and CEO of Lhyfe.
According to Lhyfe, this fundraising comes at a particularly favorable time for renewable hydrogen operators with the industry receiving renewed public policy support in France and the EU, including large-scale investment plans.
France aiming for a leading role
France has set out an overall package of EUR 9 million through its France 2030 investment plan and its strategy for carbon-free hydrogen, and the EU is providing support through its Innovation Fund and by earmarking part of Member States’ recovery plan funding for hydrogen development.
Central to this strategy is the goal to make France the leader for green hydrogen and bring the share of hydrogen to 12 percent of the European energy mix – a goal which the teams of Andera Infra and Lhyfe both share.
Lhyfe is an extraordinary company that has in very little time managed to assert itself against the giants of the industry. The company has a strong growth rate and a very substantial pipeline of projects. We are very happy to be supporting them and thus helping to make industry and mobility in Europe greener, said Prune des Roches, Partner at Andera Partners.
Ovive, part of Les Saules Group that invests in and backs entrepreneurs in the waste and energy sectors, also invested in the two previous rounds of fundraising, renewed its support with a EUR 2 million investment.
Compatriot equity investment firm Société Financière Lorient Développement (SFLD) made its first investment in Lhyfe, for the sum of EUR 0.3 million.
We felt it was important to support Lhyfe in developing Brittany. We believe that Lhyfe has the technical and human capital to be part of a major energy transformation within a short time, said Bruno Le Jossec, Executive Director, SFLD.
