Denmark-based methanol fuel cell start-up Blue World Technologies ApS has announced that it has concluded a successful seed capital round with amongst others China-based automaker AIWAYS taking a leadership position. Though the amount raised has not been disclosed, the initial investment round "closed with great success" and the goal is a stock exchange listing within five years.
Five months ago, they were three, now the team counts 23 people and within a year they expect that there will be 100 employees in the company to realise Blue World Technologies’ ambitious plans.
Before the end of the year, 4 000 m2 of production facilities will be built in the Port of Aalborg with commercial production up and running within the next two years. These plans are made possible by a successful seed-round, where the result is “matching the company’s high expectations.”
Even though we entered the seed-round with very high ambitions, we always believed that we would succeed in getting a good start. We have a great knowledge of the market and many years of experience with the technology, and from the beginning, we have received very positive statements from people in the industry. The results from the initial investment round also show that the market is mature and the potential great for ensuring methanol fuel cells a solid position in the green transition that the transport sector is facing, said Dr Anders Korsgaard, CEO of Blue World Technologies.
AIWAYS takes the lead
The Chinese car manufacturer AIWAYS is among the investors that sees great potential in the fuel cell technology that Blue World Technologies is working with.
Our investment and interest in Blue World Technologies goes hand in hand with our overall goal of creating the next generation of sustainable vehicles. Although Blue World Technologies is a new company, it is built on solid industry experience. So, we are dealing with a team that really knows what they are doing and who has made the right plan to get methanol fuel cell cars on the roads, commented Alexander Klose, Vice President of Overseas Operations at AIWAYS.
AIWAYS is also a relatively young company, but at the same time, it is a fast-growing company that already has cars on the roads in China and is well on the way to scale their production. It is expected that their cars will hit the European market within the coming year.
In addition to the investment from AIWAYS, Blue World Technologies also received investments in the seed-round from several smaller investors.
A clear focus on the Chinese market
The fact that Blue World Technologies has got a Chinese car manufacturer as an investor is not coincidental. When it comes to e-mobility and sustainable energy technologies including methanol-based powertrains, the development is huge in the Chinese market.
This is due to, among other things, great political support for the green transition, which means that the transition in China is moving at high speed compared to, for example, Europe.
What is going to happen in China will also happen in the world. They are so dominant within cleantech that we have to be present locally in the market to be able to cooperate with the right market players and to influence the direction they work in, said Dr Korsgaard.
For Aalborg Municipality, it is also of great importance that companies such as Blue World Technologies look to China. In recent years, the collaboration between Aalborg Municipality and China has grown stronger.
The market for green energy solutions is huge in China, and it is also one of the areas we are best at in Aalborg. That is why it is important for us as a municipality to support a company like Blue World Technologies, which with their technology development and production, helps to create green jobs in the city, said Thomas Kastrup-Larsen, Mayor of Aalborg Municipality.
Besides the production facilities planned for Denmark, Blue World Technologies is also planning production facilities locally in China, and there will also be close cooperation with several different Chinese component suppliers.
