Ammobia, developer of a low-cost ammonia production technology, has announced a US$7.5 million seed round to scale its Haber-Bosch 2.0 modular plant designs that use advanced materials science and reaction engineering to considerably reduce ammonia production capital expenditures.
With the new financing, the team has revealed its plans to build a pilot facility to de-risk its reactor technology and select a customer cohort for commercial demonstrations.
Ammobia’s funding round, which included investors such as Shell Ventures, ALIAD (Air Liquide), MOL Switch (Mitsui OSK Lines), and Chevron Technology Ventures, reflects ongoing interest in the potential for innovation in the global ammonia market. As the second most-produced chemical worldwide, ammonia feeds half the world's population through fertilizers.
However, standard Haber-Bosch production relies on the volatile natural gas supply and requires extreme conditions that favour centralised, capital-intensive facilities. Ammobia’s Haber-Bosch 2.0 leverages novel material science, process design, and commercially available components to improve ammonia’s affordability, transportability, and independence from fossil-fuel-exporting regions, minimising supply shock exposure and enabling long-term energy resilience.
"The ammonia industry is at an inflection point," said Karen Baert, CEO and Co-founder of Ammobia. "If we want to lower costs and cut emissions in existing ammonia markets – while enabling ammonia’s untapped value in energy and maritime fuel – we need production technology designed for where the world is headed, not where it's been. Our approach reimagines a 100-year old process, which helps us deliver lower-cost, more resilient ammonia production regardless of energy source. Ammobia’s technology that solves for economic pressures and supply chain instability also creates a pathway to deep decarbonisation – meaning we're positioned to serve both the industry's immediate needs and its long-term transformation."
Ammobia’s proprietary thermochemical synthesis technology brings a suite of advantages to fuel and power sectors, chemical manufacturing, fertilizer producers, and energy storage and transportation ecosystems:
- Lower production costs: proven over thousands of hours to be able to operate at 10x lower pressure and 150°C lower temperature, Ammobia has demonstrated potential to reduce total synthesis loop costs by up to half. This results in considerably lower production costs overall, enabling economical production at any scale from any energy source.
- Supply chain resilience: modular design and lower capital requirements allow fertilizer producers and energy companies to deploy production closer to end markets, reducing dependence on centralised facilities and volatile global supply chains.
- Faster deployment: standardised plants eliminate the need for custom engineering and multi-billion-dollar construction timelines, allowing ammonia production to scale quickly in diverse geographies where demand exists.
- Compatible with renewable energy: modularity and lower operating pressure enables plants to run efficiently on intermittent renewable power without expensive hydrogen storage, unlocking cost-effective clean ammonia for maritime fuel and power generation.
- Accelerated decarbonisation: almost 2% of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) come from ammonia production. By delivering low-cost production, Ammobia unlocks decarbonisation pathways across four critical industries – agriculture, energy, maritime, and chemicals – with the potential to address up to 5% of global GHGs.
"Ammonia is rapidly emerging as a critical fuel and energy carrier, creating significant new market opportunities," commented Tomoaki Ichida, CEO at MOL Switch, the venture capital arm of global shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines. "Traditional production has served existing markets well, but meeting this growing demand requires a diversified approach. Ammobia's novel technology enables economical ammonia production at any scale and proximity to demand – essential as these applications mature. For MOL, backing a team with the technical expertise to deliver production at half the conventional capex strengthens our ability to decarbonise shipping."
Ammobia recently added Guido Radaelli to its leadership team, where he is now Chief Engineering Officer. Radaelli brings decades of experience in process technology innovation and in the ammonia market. "After 30 years developing and commercialising ammonia technology, I've seen every incremental improvement attempted in this industry," said Radaelli. "What Ammobia has achieved isn't incremental – it's a fundamental shift that changes the economics across the value chain."
The seed round also added Katapult Ocean, AIR Capital, Alumni Ventures, and Motivate Fund to Ammobia’s cap table, with follow-on capital from existing investors such as Starlight Ventures, Collaborative Fund, Arosa Capital and Zero Infinity Partners. Ammobia’s investments now total US$13.5 million, including dilutive and non-dilutive capital.