Oman participates in Australia’s largest ever green tech investment round: The venture capital arm of Oman Investment Authority (OIA) IDO Investments has invested an undisclosed amount in Australian electrolyzer company Hysata’s latest series B funding round, according to a statement released last week.

Where’s the money going? The USD 111 mn secured from the round will go towards expanding Hysata’s production capacity and developing technology for gigawatt-scale electrolyzer manufacturing for use in decarbonizing heavy industries. This marks the largest Series B funding round in Australian cleantech history.

Who else is in? International investor BP Ventures and alternative asset management firm based in Hong Kong Templewate co-led the round with investments of USD 10 mn each, the statement notes. The round got backing from existing investors IP Group Australia, Kiko Ventures, Virescent Ventures, Hostplus, Vestas Ventures and BlueScopeX. Other major strategic and financial investors include POSCO Holdings, POSCO E&C, IMM Investment Hong Kong, Shinhan Financial Group, Twin Towers Ventures, and TelstraSuper.

How does its tech work? Hysata's method uses capillary action to avoid the formation of bubbles during electrolysis which typically leads to energy loss, Bloomberg reported last week. Capillary action is the process of a liquid rising through a narrow space, one of the ways trees raise water to their leaves.

Why this matters: The production of green hydrogen is expected to surge from 400k tons this year to 9.6 mn metric tons by 2030, according to BloombergNEF. Currently, most hydrogen is produced using fossil fuels, resulting in significant CO2 emissions, Bloomberg adds. However, Hysata's technology offers a more climate-friendly alternative. Hysata aims to commercialize its technology, which could substantially reduce the cost of producing emissions-free hydrogen by 2025.

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