Green Hydrogen Propulsion Systems Company, GreenAero raises $240K led by Rebalance
Humans and goods are moving far and fast, more than ever before. Between 1990 and 2019, both passenger and freight demand has quadrupled. Transport-related energy consumption will continue to increase through 2050.
Transportation makes up 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and as much as 11% if warehouses and ports are included. Growing economies in Asia, Africa, and Latin America are expected to triple global demand for freight by 2050, which will double freight’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Aviation, shipping, and trucking account for 50% of CO2 emissions from transportation.
Aviation has the highest emissions on a per capita basis and is the toughest problem in decarbonization today. Its use is increasing in countries like India which are seeing a rise in people’s per capita income over the next two decades.
These sectors are hard to decarbonize just using batteries owing to the requirement of high energy density as well as power density. We used standard jet fuel in 1990 and are using the same stuff today. It has not gotten any cleaner. The industry will eventually need to move from jet fuel to electrification, biofuels, hydrogen, or a combination of them.
Green Aero is on a mission to decarbonize aviation and shipping.
They are developing unique green hydrogen-based propulsion systems. The team demonstrated some initial designs and concepts through early testing. They are also working on several key technology areas that have defense applications. The defense sector is showing immense growth and interest in localizing the development of aero-engine technologies in India. Hydrogen-fueled long-haul automobiles and marine vessels can enable decarbonization of the mobility sector.
GreenAero was founded in 2023 by Prithwish Kundu — an aviation enthusiast since childhood. He was previously a research scientist at a national laboratory in the US, Argonne National Laboratory. He was funded by and led key projects with other federal agencies like NASA and the US Army, along with private companies like Pratt and Whitney. His work covered a wide range of topics like hypersonics, aero-engines, and fuel surrogates. He graduated with a PhD and MS from North Carolina State University. Prithwish, most recently worked as an AVP at Euler Motors before starting Green Aero.
Green Aero secured $240K led by Rebalance Angel Community with participation from several angels.
They will use these funds to expand their team, testing facilities, and prototype. They previously won a funding grant from Boeing which helped them kickstart their testing campaign.
“Green hydrogen is going to be a major disruption in the energy sector. Our team’s R&D efforts are geared to make sure that we stay at the forefront of this technology. At the same time, our efforts will also ensure that we can develop key aero-engine/propulsion capabilities that are critical to the defense ecosystem. This initial capital will help us to take off towards this future. ” said Prithwish Kundu, Founder of GreenAero.
They were winners of the SIDBI green-tech accelerator and were also invited by the Hon. President Draupadi Murmu for the reception at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on Independence Day.
“Clean transportation and energy is the inevitable future. While electrification is already taking place on land, there is a massive opportunity to back founders who are solving for segments that are harder to decarbonize. Green Hydrogen, produced using renewable energy, has the potential to play a key role in such low-carbon and self-reliant economic pathways. We’re thrilled to back Prithwish and his stellar team on this incredible mission.” added Aishwarya Malhi and Vikas Kumar, Co-founders of Rebalance.
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Data from: https://ourworldindata.org/global-aviation-emissions; https://www.climatewatchdata.org
