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Photosynthesis is the source of energy for all life and an important mechanism for carbon circulation in the ecosystem. As a "warm fund", Lightspeed Photosynthesis is also producing "photosynthesis" with entrepreneurs and the society, connecting innovation while promoting the sustainable development of society.
Chuangyebang will continue to publish Lightspeed Photosynthesis’s investment column “Photosynthesis Theory”. This article is the eighth issue of the column, sharing the story behind Lightspeed Photosynthesis’s investment.

The story may start with a strange phone call, a visit, or the attention paid to an academic paper... The intersection between Lightspeed Photosynthesis and entrepreneurs begins here. There is no toasting at the wine table, no exaggerated promises, only long-term companionship, sharing pain, sharing success, and practicing the value of long-termism.

"Thinking, focusing, exploring, and innovating" are the investment beliefs of Lightspeed Photosynthesis. With the ultimate pursuit of the industry and the responsibility given by the times, we actively seek the next possible opportunity. We hope that "China's Global Partner of Innovation" can join hands with more pioneers of industry innovation to move towards the light and work together.

In December 2021, Angewandte Chemie, a top international journal in the field of chemistry, published a paper showing that breakthrough progress has been made in anion exchange membrane (AEM), a key component of hydrogen fuel cells and electrolyzers.

This world's most advanced technology for efficient hydrogen production and utilization can be achieved using non-precious metal catalysts. It means more convenient prospects for hydrogen production and use, and is a major boost to the future large-scale mass production and application of hydrogen fuel cells and electrolyzers.

This paper is the result of a research team led by Professor Hu Xile, the founder of NovaMea.

Hu Xile is a world-renowned scholar in the field of energy materials. He works at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), one of the world's top science and engineering institutions. He holds the title of academician of the European Academy of Sciences and has won numerous awards. In early 2023, as co-founder and chairman, he and his doctoral student Wu Xingyu co-founded NovaMea in Switzerland, dedicated to the research and development of core materials and technology transformation of hydrogen energy equipment.

Earlier this year, Lightspeed Photosynthesis exclusively invested in NovaMea's angel round, which was also the company's first external financing.

Zhu Jia, partner of Lightspeed Photosynthesis, said that hydrogen is an ideal energy carrier with high energy density. It can become the new generation of green "oil" in the future and become an important pillar industry in global energy.

"To achieve the long-term goal of carbon neutrality, one very important aspect is to achieve green hydrogen. Lightspeed Photosynthesis continues to look for the best green hydrogen technology in the green hydrogen industry, especially focusing on the key links in the technology, that is, the core raw materials in the preparation of green hydrogen electrolyzers. Under this general direction, we have been looking for excellent entrepreneurial teams in the industry and finally locked in NovaMea. We believe that with their leading technology, we can take a leading position in this market and continue to grow bigger and stronger as the industry evolves."

According to a Deloitte report, hydrogen energy could generate global trade worth $280 billion per year from 2023 to 2050, with a market size of more than $1.4 trillion.

Can NovaMea find its own space in the hydrogen energy industry chain?

Betting on AEM to empower hydrogen production technology

The main bottleneck hindering the rapid development of the hydrogen energy industry is the high cost of hydrogen production and storage. This problem can only be solved by laboratories.

Years of research have enabled Professor Hu Xile's team to acquire relevant technologies for producing hydrogen through water electrolysis, and they have also discovered and realized the flaws of existing commercial hydrogen production technologies at an early stage.

At present, the mainstream water electrolysis hydrogen production technology is divided into four major directions, namely alkaline water electrolysis (ALK), proton exchange membrane electrolysis (PEM), high temperature solid oxide electrolysis (SOEC) and solid polymer anion exchange membrane electrolysis (AEM).

The core of this is the anion exchange membrane, which is a key component of the electrolyzer, a device for producing hydrogen by electrolysis of water. This thin film, which is only tens of microns thick, is comparable to a strand of hair. Its function is to transmit hydroxide ions between the cathode and anode of the electrolyzer, while isolating the mixture of hydrogen and oxygen. The exchange membrane must be thin enough to reduce the transmission resistance of hydroxide ions and improve the performance of the electrolyzer. The strength of the membrane is also important. Once it breaks, hydrogen and oxygen may mix and cause combustion or explosion.

Among the above technical routes, ALK was applied the earliest and has been commercialized in my country, with a relatively mature overall industrial chain. However, ALK still has problems such as low hydrogen production efficiency, large equipment size, and difficulty in adapting to renewable energy such as wind and solar energy.

SOEC and PEM are in the early stages of commercial development. The expensive materials of the former are the primary problem. Their thermochemical cycles, especially the start and stop of the system, will accelerate aging and reduce their service life. The latter was once considered to be the next outlet of the hydrogen production industry chain. It has high density, small size and low energy consumption, but its disadvantage is that it must rely on precious metals such as platinum and iridium as catalysts. The corrosion-resistant titanium bipolar plates and perfluorinated PEM are also expensive and difficult to replace, and the industry investment cost is high.

AEM is different. It has good air tightness and low electrical resistance, so it has high hydrogen production efficiency. The use of transition metal catalysts also leads to lower costs. In addition, the supporting electrolytic water can use weak alkali as the electrolyte, which is less corrosive to the equipment.

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Standing at the forefront of academia, Professor Hu Xile started research on AEM very early. In discussions with industry chain companies, he found that the catalyst developed in the laboratory at that time could not be applied to any known electrolyzer. A large number of literature also showed that the performance defects of AEM membranes were the main technical difficulties in the use of AEM electrolyzers at that time. Both academia and industry had been lacking effective progress.

This gap made Hu Xile's team realize that only by conquering the AEM membrane can non-precious metal catalysts be truly used in electrolyzers and AEM technology have a chance to replace PEM technology.

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NovaMea is on a green hydrogen mission

After deciding to establish AEM as a new topic, Professor Hu Xile recruited Wu Xingyu, the first doctoral student in this field from China. Wu Xingyu graduated from Tianjin University with a bachelor's and master's degree in chemical engineering and technology. He studied under Professor Jiang Zhongyi, a well-known scholar in the field of membrane separation, and has a solid background in engineering design and application. This major is also the trump major of Tianjin University, and has been ranked first in the subject evaluation of the Ministry of Education for four consecutive times. In 2018, he joined Professor Hu Xile's research group and focused on the research and development of AEM core materials.

In 2022, when Wu Xingyu, a fourth-year doctoral student, was about to graduate, Professor Hu Xile suggested that he try to engineer part of his research. As a result, Wu Xingyu gradually began to understand the market in related fields and realized the huge commercial potential of hydrogen production technology.

Wu Xingyu, who graduated the following year, joined the start-up electrolyzer material technology company NovaMea as co-founder and CEO, officially embarking on the road of commercializing the core technology of green hydrogen energy.

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Innovation Park

Zhu Jia mentioned that when investing in the technology sector, he often encounters companies that have come out of the laboratory and landed on commercialization. "Many professors may be very knowledgeable about technology, but they may lack understanding of industry and business."

"However, when I communicated with Mr. Hu for the first time, I found that he had very strong business acumen and insight. From the way he chose to cooperate with clients and institutions, I could see that he had the ability to quickly perceive and understand the essence of business," said Zhu Jia.

Zhang Li, vice president of Lightspeed Photosynthesis, shared the same sentiment. He recalled that on the first day of his on-site due diligence in Lausanne, Switzerland, Professor Hu took him to his favorite Japanese restaurant. After dinner, during a casual chat with the owner of the Japanese restaurant, the owner mentioned that they were preparing to open a new store. Upon hearing this, Professor Hu took the initiative to help the owner analyze the population distribution in Lausanne, the preferences of various places, the density of people flow, etc., demonstrating his business sense in all aspects. The owner of the Japanese restaurant nodded frequently after listening to his analysis.

"It is very important for the founder to have insight into what is important and what may be relatively unimportant in the entire business process. In addition, he has a strong ability to judge the importance of top customers, and he will spend a lot of energy to promote cooperation with top customers. After we invested, they quickly signed and completed the first order, which was very efficient." Zhu Jia commented, "Professor Hu is not only a top scholar, but also a seasoned 'businessman'."

After the company has been in operation for more than a year, the teacher-student duo has also developed a relatively clear division of labor: Professor Hu Xile is responsible for coordinating external relations, such as contacting local governments, external investors, and industrial funds; while Wu Xingyu focuses on the company's AEM technology research and development and transformation as well as market development.

The biggest challenge for the newly born NovaMea is to get the AEM material out of the laboratory and into a dedicated electrolyzer. "Our materials are very good. The reaction conditions of AEM are milder than those of PEM and ALK. The activity and stability of polymer membranes and non-precious metals will be better in this environment. This technical route is feasible. However, more experimental data is needed at present."

Zhu Jia said that any innovative technology needs to have a process of industrialization and maturity, which is also a natural industry law. The principle of AEM has been fully studied by the industry. Compared with ALK and PEM, it has natural advantages, but its biggest problem is how to ensure the reliability and stability of the material when it is industrialized on a large scale.

"This is precisely one of the core reasons why we are optimistic about NovaMea. It truly solves the stability problem of the key membrane material of AEM. It makes the service life of the membrane 10 times better than that of existing membranes. Ultimately, when it is used in the electrolyzer, it can show better performance and longer durability, and its attenuation indicators of various performances are far better than those of other peers."

Mastering core technologies, with broad market prospects

Backed by the latest AEM technology achievements, NovaMea believes that this will be an important opportunity to promote the large-scale application of green hydrogen, and even a prerequisite for determining whether the entire hydrogen energy industry track can rise.

At the company level, NovaMea's technical route prediction and rapid advancement ensure their advantage in competition with other competitors in the same industry. As one of the earliest research teams in AEM, Professor Hu Xile's research team has accumulated a large amount of experimental data and engineering experience, and has entered the stage of negotiating with customers, promoting cooperation, and obtaining orders.

The technologically advanced NovaMea is progressing smoothly. Not only did it complete its angel round of financing this year, it also received a steady stream of corporate requests. The sources of cooperation are quite diverse. One is a fuel cell company that hopes to purchase AEM membranes and electrode materials and transform into an electrolyzer, and the other is a commercial hydrogen energy company further downstream. Some leading companies at home and abroad have become NovaMea's customers, or are actively discussing cooperation opportunities.

Lightspeed Photosynthesis actually started planning for the green hydrogen industry chain very early. According to Zhu Jia, in the downstream of green hydrogen, the hydrogen application end targets the core components of fuel cells - air compressors and membrane electrodes. It has invested in two leading companies in this industry in China, Segatron and Tangfeng Energy, and invested in the domestic industry leader Blue Energy in the hydrogen storage and transportation link. NovaMea is a company that Lightspeed Photosynthesis has deployed in the upstream hydrogen production link.

Production equipment prototype

Further extending outward, green hydrogen is suitable for further synthesis with carbon capture to form a new generation of green fuels, such as methanol. In the process of carbon capture, Lightspeed Photosynthesis has invested in Feynman Power, which converts carbon dioxide into green carbon monoxide through electrolysis technology, and then combines it with green hydrogen to further synthesize green methanol, fuel oil, acetic acid and other industrial products. In fact, NovaMea and Feynman Power are both companies in two key upstream links in the future green fuel field.

Currently, NovaMea has reached an agreement with Suzhou City to establish its China headquarters and production line in Suzhou Industrial Park to produce the first batch of AEM membranes. In the future, the company's strategy will be more inclined towards the Suzhou headquarters, China will become a core market, and Switzerland will be the center to develop a deeper business layout in Europe and the world.

"We position ourselves as a core material supplier for energy equipment. In terms of our long-term goals and vision, we insist on original technology research and development, deeply cultivate the Chinese and global markets, and become the most competitive technology company in the field of hydrogen energy," concluded Professor Hu Xile and Dr. Wu Xingyu.

Zhang Li remembers that someone once asked Professor Hu Xile, if NovaMea has a plan if AEM does not start to grow in time? Professor Hu Xile answered firmly: "I believe that NovaMea's products can change the current market difficulties and enable the green hydrogen industry to develop faster. I will spare no effort to promote the commercialization of AEM."

At present, green hydrogen plays an important role in areas such as sustainable aviation fuel and green methanol for shipping. The commercialization of AEM will undoubtedly accelerate the development of green hydrogen.

With the introduction of the "dual carbon" strategy, Lightspeed Photosynthesis continues to focus on technological innovation with a focus on carbon reduction. Zhu Jia sees that there are still many key technical issues to be solved in the green hydrogen industry, and he looks forward to tapping into more new investment opportunities.