Fresh off of announcing a $23 million capital raise, a local startup developing a novel chemical reactor technology plans to hire dozens more employees in Houston.
Houston-based Syzygy Plasmonics, a developer of a photocatalytic chemical reactor platform, announced raising the Series B financing April 6. The firm had previously raised nearly $12 million, including a $5.8 million Series A round announced in 2019.
Syzygy's Series B was led by Hong Kong-based Horizons Ventures and saw participation from Equinor Ventures, the venture capital arm of Norwegian energy firm Equinor. Trevor Best, co-founder and CEO at Syzygy, said the prestige and global nature of the Syzygy's investors is validating the importance of the company's technology in the clean energy transition.
"Ultimately, we enable the electrification of chemical processes," Best said. "These are the kinds of processes that make hydrogen — which everyone's very excited about — fuels, fertilizers, raw materials for plastics and other things."
Syzygy's photocatalytic chemical reactor technology uses light to trigger a desired chemical reaction, as opposed to using heat from burning fossil fuels in more traditional chemical processes. Because the reactors use light instead of heat, they can be constructed using low-cost materials like aluminum, glass and plastic, Best said. The Syzygy technology platform was spun out of Rice University and invented by co-founders and professors Naomi Halas and Peter Nordlander.
"By electrifying [chemical processes], we enable them to run on renewable electricity and ultimately eliminate carbon emissions," Best said.
Following the $23 million Series B raise, Best said Syzygy is transitioning from a company focused on research and development into the realm of product development. The financing will enable Syzygy to develop its first photocatalytic chemical reactor for a commercial customer. The company said it aims to have the first full-size chemical reactor ready for commercial use in 2022.
To meet the demand for the product, Best said Syzygy plans to double in size over the next 18 months, from around 26 employees to 50. The Houston-based firm aims to hire chemical, mechanical and electrical engineers, as well as technicians with experience building and operating advanced equipment. Syzygy also plans to hire a senior business development professional and a senior finance professional — potentially a CFO, Best said.
Syzygy's first commercial products will focus on distributed hydrogen, for which the molecule has myriad different use cases, Best said. The firm's commercial units could produce hydrogen for smaller sites developing semiconductors, metal, food oil, float glass and hydrogen fuel cells, Best said. As Syzygy can scale its platform for larger operations, more opportunities become available.
"As you scale up, there's a myriad of large-scale uses for hydrogen: steel manufacturing, ammonia production, petrochemicals, methanol production, etc.," Best said.
