Bamford heir digs green hydrogen, seeks funds to backhoe projects
HyCap is a new investment fund, seeking returns from green hydrogen projects. Founder Jo Bamford, pioneer already of the green gas’s specialist Ryze Hydrogen, launched the fund this week, as a joint venture with his six-year incorporated funding muckers Vedra Partners.
Bamford, heir to the JCB digger engineering fortune, is reported to be aiming for a £1 billion-sized pot. HyCap’s first investment round has already raised £200 million from ‘angels’, including Vedra’s wealthy family customers, many of them commanding high net worth.
Production of green hydrogen, and furthering its many embodiments in decarbonising Britain’s industrial, chemical and electrical applications are HyCap’s focus, in an increasingly crowded investment sector.
Bamford said his team has already identified more than 40 firms in the hydrogen space which will be evaluated for investment.
“We have also discovered that investors around the world match the ambitions of global governments in wanting green-focused funds which have a positive impact on climate change,” Bamford said.
He identified a number of key drivers for hydrogen’s current spot in the investment sun.
- the UK government is committed to 5GW of low-carbon hydrogen production by 2030
- 70% of global GDP is linked to hydrogen country road maps
- membership of the UK’s Hydrogen Council has increased nearly five-fold in four years
Science advisors the Climate Change Committee’s Sixth Carbon Budget estimate 223TW of low-carbon hydrogen will be required by 2050.
The Hydrogen Taskforce, a coalition of the industry’s biggest hitters including Shell, BP, EDF and Ørsted, foresees hydrogen demand at that scale reducing emissions by up to 30 megatons of CO2 per year, the equivalent of taking 17 million cars off the road.
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