From tariffs to the recent reconciliation bill, climate tech startups have been grappling with a rapidly changing landscape. Brooklyn-based startup Amogy has managed to avoid turbulence induced by U.S. politics by keeping its sights on more promising foreign markets.
Amogy’s ammonia-to-power tech and its focus on Asian markets, including Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, has helped it land a fresh $23 million in funding. The round, which brings its most recent fundraise to $80 million, increases the company’s valuation to $700 million, co-founder and CEO Seonghoon Woo told TechCrunch. The round was led by the Korea Development Bank and KDB Silicon Valley LLC with participation from BonAngels Venture Partners, JB Investment, and Pathway Investment.
Amogy is based primarily in the U.S. But the startup has found demand for its core technology in Japan and South Korea, countries looking for new ways to expand power generation.
“They don’t have as high quality solar, wind, and geothermal resources, and they are not really in the best position to build a nuclear power either,” Woo said.
Ammonia is most widely used as a component of plant fertilizers; it can also serve as what experts call a hydrogen carrier. Normally, hydrogen is difficult to transport — it’s flammable and prone to leaking — but a hydrogen carrier like ammonia makes it easier.
In an effort to reduce their carbon pollution, Asian countries have started burning ammonia in existing fossil fuel power plants. Typically, operators will replace some percentage of coal with ammonia.
Shipping companies have started doing the same, replacing diesel with the compound. Ammonia has found fertile ground in that industry because the International Maritime Organization, which regulates maritime shipping, is going to begin levying a carbon tax starting in 2027.
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But in any place where ammonia is burned — whether that’s a power plant or a ocean-going ship — it needs to have at least some fossil fuel combusted alongside it. That makes full decarbonization impossible.
Amogy has been developing a way to fully replace fossil fuels using ammonia as a fuel. First, the company cracks three hydrogen atoms off each nitrogen atom. It then sends the hydrogen to a fuel cell, which generates electricity and water vapor, while releasing pure nitrogen to the air.
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