Pajarito Powder, an Albuquerque-based company making products for the hydrogen industry, raised $4.5 million from a new strategic partner, money that's set to help the New Mexico firm scale hiring and production at an expanded headquarters facility.
Ecovyst Inc. (NYSE: ECVT), a global advanced materials producer based in Malvern, Pennsylvania, announced its $4.5 million equity investment in Pajarito Powder Thursday. The investment, according to a news release, "reflects Ecovyst's belief that hydrogen produced via electrolysis will become a widely used, low-carbon fuel for heavy-duty transportation and industrial applications."
Pajarito Powder, headquartered at 5555 McLeod Road NE, makes catalysts used in electrolyzers — pieces of equipment required to produce hydrogen via electrolysis, or the splitting of water molecules. That hydrogen production method is typically called "green" hydrogen, because it doesn't release greenhouse gases like methane during production.
Pajarito's catalysts are also used in fuel cells, mechanical components needed to make hydrogen-fueled vehicles run.
Reports, including by consulting firm McKinsey & Co. and by business-focused publication Bloomberg, point to a fast-growing global green hydrogen market, which could expand more than 20 times by the end of the decade.
The new investment dollars, Pajarito's CEO Tom Stephenson told Albuquerque Business First, will help the Albuquerque company scale up to meet that rapidly developing market, in the form of both additional hiring and increased production capacity.
On the hiring front, Pajarito has received a few recent New Mexico Job Training Incentive Program awards — one announced in May and another in July — for a combined 18 employees. Stephenson said that once the company fills those positions it'll look to hire additional employees before the end of the year, using new investment monies.
Positions Pajarito's looking to fill include chemical engineering roles, ranging from entry-level positions to more senior hires. The company brought on a director of manufacturing in July to oversee its production processes, Stephenson added.
Investment dollars will also go toward bringing in more equipment to handle catalyst and related manufacturing efforts "at a larger scale," he said.
The company's headquarters has plenty of space to support that planned employee and equipment growth, Stephenson said. Pajarito moved into the new $3.1 million HQ late last year, which is nearly triple the square footage of its previous Albuquerque facility with space to expand its production capacity by "a couple hundred times," Stephenson told Business First in December 2023.
Working with Ecovyst as a "strategic partner" could boost Pajarito's business past just the capital, too, he said. The publicly traded Pennsylvania company will appoint a representative to Pajarito's board of directors, per the Thursday release, and the two firms "plan to initiate various joint development agreements to develop the technology platforms of each company," the release notes.
Ecovyst joins Pajarito's existing strategic investors and partners, including Bekaert, a Belgian company, and Hyundai Motor Co.
"Those strategic relationships are ones that we view as being as beneficial as the capital that we receive from them," Stephenson said.
With Ecovyst, specifically, Stephenson added the larger company has valuable experience scaling new products.
"There's an awful lot that we're able to learn from their experience, both technical and business, that we think is going to be beneficial for us," he said.
Pajarito's currently serving "dozens" of customers, which range from academic research groups to major hydrogen transportation firms, Stepheson said. Webb Johnson, the company's senior director of business development, added its top 20 customers have a total market capitalization of around $1.5 trillion.
Ecovyst's investment comes on the heels of Pajarito's selection for a pair of U.S. Department of Energy awards, worth a combined $20 million. Work under the awards could start soon, with additional hiring expected to meet the staffing demands of that specific work.
The company also received a $766,000 grant from the New Mexico Economic Development Department in May as part its Advanced Energy Award Pilot Program.
