Hydrogen fuel startup spins out of Bill Gates-backed R&D effort, lands $7.8M

Peregrine Hydrogen, a Santa Cruz, Calif., startup developing technology for producing clean hydrogen fuel, raised $7.8 million in seed financing.

The company is aiming to manufacture climate friendly hydrogen that is cost competitive with dirtier fuel made from methane. Its strategy includes using electrolyzing technology to produce valuable industrial chemicals alongside hydrogen.

Bill Gates connection: Peregrine spun out of Orca Sciences, a climate-focused R&D incubator funded by Bill Gates and now affiliated with his Breakthrough Energy organization. Gates Frontier, the Microsoft co-founder’s investment firm, contributed to the seed round.

The team: Peregrine’s CEO and co-founder is Friðrik Lárusson, a Seattle-based entrepreneur, physicist and electrical engineer who spent more than six years at Intellectual Ventures, an innovation hub created by former Microsoft researcher Nathan Myhrvold and backed by Gates.

Other co-founders include Stefan Omelchenko, a former Apple engineer; chemical engineer Matthew Shaner; and Orca Sciences founder Ian McKay.

The investors: Bidra led the investment round, with participation from Gates Frontier, Builders, Presidio Ventures, RiSC Capital and Schox. The startup said the funding will be used to “refine and scale-up their proprietary technology and expand into commodity chemical markets.”

The problem: Hydrogen is a versatile fuel being pursued as a clean alternative for use in transportation, aviation and energy storage. But hydrogen is made from a variety of sources, namely fossil fuels, and through the use of dirty power. Peregrine is among the ventures aiming to make hydrogen without carbon dioxide production.

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