Green hydrogen: Series E for Sunfire at €500 million for growth and industrialization

Berlin — YPOG provi­ded compre­hen­sive legal advice to German elec­tro­ly­zer manu­fac­tu­rer Sunfire GmbH on its Series E finan­cing round, which raised €215 million in equity. The new inves­tors include LGT Private Banking, GIC, Ahren Inno­va­tion Capi­tal and Carbon Equity. The tran­sac­tion is subject to custo­mary regu­la­tory appr­ovals and is expec­ted to be comple­ted in the second quar­ter of 2024.
Exis­ting share­hol­ders have increased their invest­ments in Sunfire — inclu­ding Light­rock, Planet First Part­ners, Carbon Direct Capi­tal, the Amazon Climate Pledge Fund and Blue Earth Capital.

The rene­wed invest­ment in Sunfire, which repres­ents one of the largest finan­cing rounds to date in 2024, is a strong signal of the company’s crucial role in expan­ding the hydro­gen economy in a diffi­cult finan­cial envi­ron­ment. — In addi­tion, the company has secu­red a loan of up to €100 million from the Euro­pean Invest­ment Bank (EIB), which will enable it to conti­nue the deve­lo­p­ment and indus­tria­liza­tion of solid oxide electrolysers.

In addi­tion, Sunfire has access to appro­xi­m­ately €200 million from alre­ady appro­ved finan­cing projects to drive its growth. This makes the Dres­­den-based company one of the most capi­ta­li­zed compa­nies in the elec­tro­ly­sis sector.

Sunfire is a leading global manu­fac­tu­rer of indus­trial elec­tro­ly­zers based on pres­­sure-based alka­line and solid oxide tech­no­lo­gies (SOEC). With its elec­tro­ly­sis solu­ti­ons, Sunfire is tack­ling a central chall­enge of today’s energy system: The provi­sion of rene­wa­ble hydro­gen and synthe­sis gas as a climate-neutral repla­ce­ment for fossil fuels. Sunfire’s inno­va­tive and proven elec­tro­ly­sis tech­no­logy enables the conver­sion of carbon-inten­­sive indus­tries that curr­ently rely on fossil oil, gas or coal. The company employs more than 500 people in Germany and Switzerland.

Advi­sor Sunfire: YPOG

Dr. Martin Scha­per (Co-Lead, Tran­sac­tions), Part­ner, Berlin Dr. Frede­rik Gärt­ner (Co-Lead, Tran­sac­tions), Part­ner, Berlin Dr. Malte Berg­mann (Tax), Part­ner, Hamburg
Matthias Kres­ser (Finance), Part­ner, Berlin/Hamburg
Dr. Bene­dikt Flöter (IP/IT/Data Protec­tion), Asso­cia­ted Part­ner, Berlin Dr. Ferdi­nand Cadmus (Finance), Asso­cia­ted Part­ner, Berlin/Hamburg Alex­an­der Sekunde (Transactions/FDI), Senior Asso­ciate, Berlin
Dr. Jonas von Kalben (Transactions/FDI), Senior Asso­ciate, Berlin Benja­min Müller (Tran­sac­tions), Asso­ciate, Berlin
Roman Schäle(Transactions), Asso­ciate, Berlin