Investing in Verdagy

Toppan Global Venture Partners -, a Toppan company, has invested in Verdagy, Inc.

Toppan Global Venture Partners is pleased to announce our investment participation in Verdagy Inc. Based in Moss Landing,California, Verdagy is a designer, integrator, and manufacturer of MW-ScaleGreen Hydrogen production facilities.

Hydrogen (Atomic number 1) is a colorless, odorless, and non-toxic element that represents the most abundant element found in the known universe. Hydrogen fulfills a variety of roles in both organic and inorganic chemistry, and has been leveraged for economic purposes for hundreds of years.On Earth, hydrogen is easily accessible, being primarily found in water and organic molecules.

“Green Hydrogen” – a general term for hydrogen produced using renewable sources – has been of increasing interest to various H2-consuming industries. Renewable energy (wind, solar, hydro, etc.)achieved cost parity with fossil fuel sources in 2020, unlocking significant reductions to carbon emissions. Partnered with Hydrogen as a storage solution, the new energy paradigm presented by the Hydrogen economy presents a stable route to global net-zero emissions within a reasonable timeframe.

Per International Energy Agency reports, only 1% of total hydrogen production for the 3 years preceding 2021 was from renewable sources, with Grey Hydrogen (read: Generated from hydrocarbon sources) representing the largest supply segment. Low-emission hydrogen production rose 9% in 2021, with approximately 400 MW coming online globally, but still remains a minority supplier at less than 1% of current production. To hit climate targets for Net Zero scenarios IEA projects that hydrogen electrolyzer capacity will need to grow to over 700GW of production, or 128Mt of hydrogen per year, by 2030. 26 governments have committed to the expansion of production and deployment of hydrogen technologies, with national targets representing a current demand of 145-190GW electrolysis capacity. Still, targets for low-emission source hydrogen remain low at 4% of total global demand, rising from 3% the prior year.

Verdagy aims to address the shortfall in hydrogen production by developing and deploying industrial-scale electrolyzer equipment and facilities. By employing their patented large (3m2) single-element architecture cells, enabled with membranes and, operating at high current densities with a wide dynamic range, Verdagy aims to reduce upfront capex and maintenance costs associated with Proton ExchangeMembrane (PEM) technologies. The reduction of high value(platinum group) materials compared to PEM architectures should allow for increases in value capture for producers, which is further bolstered by intelligent energy consumption cost savings. Holistic systems design philosophy should lead to superior overall performance relative to ad-hoc facilities while allowing for maximum value capture of final products.

The team at Verdagy is a group of experienced veterans spun out from Chemetery in 2013. Leveraging nearly a decade of electrochemistry research and development, Verdagy has built and successfully operated a 500kW Commercial PilotPlant electrolyzer at their Moss Landing HQ. Verdagy has added a 2MW Commercial electrolyzer at their PilotPlant to further refine plant performance, safety and control systems, unsupervised and autonomous operations, as well as predictive and preventive maintenance features.  The pilot plant will prove viability of Verdagy equipment and serve as Proof-of-Concept for Verdagy’s energy partners and potential customers.

As an industry leader in membrane production and technologies, Toppan will assist Verdagy with scaling and production of fundamental Electrolyzer components. Toppan is excited to explore further synergies with Verdagy in pursuit of our greater goal of “Enhancing theFuture.”

“Our first goal at Verday was to get to the lowest CAPEX possible and we have proved that in our pilot plants in California,” Marty Neese, Verdagy’s CEO. “The team at Toppan GlobalVenture Partners team is helping us to now scale globally and to get our technology into production.”

About TGVP (Toppan Global Venture Partners)

TGVP is the US Corporate Venture Capital arm of Toppan, Inc.  Founded in 2022, theSan Francisco based firm is focused on venture capital investments in US andEuropean startup companies in Sustainability and Digital Transformation.  For more information, please visit, www.tgvp.vc

About Toppan

Established in Tokyo in1900, Toppan is a leading and diversified global provider committed to delivering sustainable, integrated solutions in fields including printing, communications, security, packaging, décor materials, electronics, and digital transformation. Toppan’s global team of more than 50,000 employees offers optimal solutions enabled by industry-leading expertise and technologies to address the diverse challenges of every business sector and society and contribute to the achievement of shared sustainability goals.

About Verdagy 

Verdagy is innovating water electrolysis technology for the large-scale production of green hydrogen. Its industry-leading solution reduces both upfront capital costs and ongoing operating expenses, to achieve the industry’s lowest levelized cost of hydrogen. Verdagy operates its laboratory and highly automated commercial pilot plants in Moss Landing,California where it continues to advance its cutting-edge technology. For more information, visit: www.verdagy.com

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