In 2021, Seequent – a Christchurch maker of 3D earth modelling and geoscience software – was sold to Nasdaq-listed Bentley Systems for US$1.05 billion ($1.45b at the exchange rate of the time).
Seequent’s story is immediately familiar to Joynt, who spent 14 years with the firm. Oze has spent the past seven years with cleantech outfit Aspring Materials.
When water flows over iron-rich rocks, oxygen can be stripped away, creating “geologic” or “orange” hydrogen. “Stimulation” is the energy industry jargon for nudging the process along. Photo / Getty
There are a number of industrial processes that humans use to synthesise hydrogen above ground. Those include passing water, aka H2O, through a (sometimes fossil fuel-powered) electrolyser to split it into oxygen and hydrogen.
But Kura’s focus is on the hydrogen beneath our feet; specifically where water flowing over iron-rich rocks creates “geologic” or “orange” hydrogen as oxygen atoms are stripped away.
This natural geochemical process happens almost exclusively underground. If it needs a nudge, it can also be triggered or accelerated – “stimulated” is the industry jargon – by techniques including drilling and injecting hot water.
“Most start-ups in this space are exploration plays. What drew me to Kura is that their team isn’t just hunting for places where hydrogen has already pooled underground” – GD1 general partner Aaron Small.
The problem is that none of the methods tried so far have been reliable or economic at scale.
Kura’s founder says they’re using “a unique combination of real-world chemistry expertise, proprietary data and supercomputing, designed to accelerate the development of a safe and reliable hydrogen stimulation frame”.
They’ve developed a breakthrough that’s worked on a small scale in a lab. The pre-seed money will be used for a push toward in-the-field commercialisation.
The details are under wraps, but Joynt said it centred on smart use of data in geologic hydrogen recovery to actively support decision-making in real time.
Chemist turned capitalist
The raise was co-led by GD1 and Motion Capital, which now own 27% of Kura between them.
It was supported by Outset Ventures, Sir Stephen Tindall’s K1W1 and the Crown-backed NZ Growth Capital Partners (NZGCP). The wider shareholder group also includes Icehouse Ventures, Breakthrough Energy and Elemental Impact.
“Hydrogen stimulated from geological systems represents a significant emerging opportunity globally,” said GD1 general partner Aaron Small, who gained a PhD in chemistry and worked in cleantech before switching to venture capital.
Beyond the exploration crowd
“Most start-ups in this space are exploration plays,” Small adds.
“What drew me to Kura is that their team isn’t just hunting for places where hydrogen has already pooled underground.
“While others are asking where to find geological hydrogen, Kura is asking a much harder question: can we understand these subsurface processes well enough to work with them deliberately, so that we can manufacture hydrogen at a scale that matters.”
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Motion Capital partner Ralph Chang says: “Rock, water, and the Earth’s own chemistry doing the work that every other hydrogen pathway burns enormous amounts of power to force.
“Kura is building the intelligence layer that turns an unpredictable natural reaction into something you can steer. If successful, this could enable a wholesale clean hydrogen infrastructure rollout and adoption at a global scale.”
Oze says: “Some of the world’s biggest opportunities are hidden beneath our feet. Kura is building the technology to understand how the Earth’s natural processes work so we can use them more wisely and sustainably.”
Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.