Jo Bamford, a long-time advocate of hydrogen as a zero-carbon energy source and entrepreneur in the space, has launched a £1 billion investment fund, HyCap. The fund has reportedly already raised around £200 million of its £1 billion target and has been created in partnership with the private equity firm Vedra Partners.
Mr Bamford, who is also an heir to the JCB construction equipment empire and share’s the same name as its founder and his grandfather Joseph Cyril Bamford, has been heavily involved in hydrogen energy enterprises since leaving a full time role with the family company five years ago.
He has already founded Ryze, which is investing in developing a network of green hydrogen production plants. He also led a rescue of the Northern Irish bus manufacturer Wrightbus and has transformed it into a hydrogen vehicles specialist. And the wider Bamford family, which still own JCB as a private company, are investors in the hydrogen technologies and filling stations company ITM Power. The company, listed on the London Stock Exchange, is currently valued at £2.89 billion.
The self-styled “green entrepreneur” will now spearhead the new HyCap fund which he says has been launched as a response to the recent United Nations intergovernmental panel’s dire warnings on climate change. Bamford is convinced hydrogen power will play a key role if global emissions are to be reduced in line with international targets.
HyCap’s investment strategy will be to fund predominantly British businesses in the green hydrogen production and supply chain. The gas is produced by using electrolysis to split hydrogen from oxygen atoms in water. It’s a more expensive but cleaner process than producing blue hydrogen. The fund’s investments, says Bamford, will not only contribute towards the UK’s 2050 target to become a net zero emissions country but create new jobs in the process.
The UK has committed to generating 5 gigawatts of green hydrogen power by 2030 but Bamford is concerned the country is falling behind other leading industrial nations in developing and exploiting new power technologies. He comments:
“The UK has missed the boat on batteries, a sector dominated by China and the Far East, but we can be global leaders in the production and supply of hydrogen.”
Vedra Partners chief executive Max Gottschalk adds:
“The fund will be investing across the entire value chain, focusing on production, manufacture and supply, to put the UK firmly on the map when it comes to hydrogen.”
“By striking meaningful commercial partnerships and developing intelligent go-to-market strategies, it is clear HyCap’s maiden fund can add strategic, operational and financial value to the ecosystem while creating entrepreneurial growth businesses.”
The company’s HydrogenOne Capital fund listed on the London Stock Exchange this summer.