Israel’s GenCell raises NIS 205 million in share sale on Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
IPO marks first public listing of company in hydrogen industry; technology developed can be used to power spaceships and submarines emission-free
Shoshanna Solomon was The Times of Israel's Startups and Business reporter
GenCell, a manufacturer of hydrogen fuel cell-based electricity generators, said Wednesday it has completed an initial public offering (IPO) of shares on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, raising some NIS 205 million ($61 million) from the sale of a 25% stake in the firm, giving it a post-money valuation of some NIS 800 million.
The Israel startup founded in 2011 makes fuel cell-based solutions to create electricity and has been supplying its products to electricity providers, including in Israel, the US and Europe. The share listing makes the firm the first public Israeli company active in the growing hydrogen energy industry.
GenCell’s products are based on fuel cell technology — an electro-chemical process that happens between two gases, hydrogen and oxygen, generating clean energy. Spaceships and submarines use fuel cell energy because it is emission-free.
The firm says it has developed a way to make these cells cheaper to manufacture by replacing the platinum generally used in them with a combination of nickel and carbon and using a nanotechnology process. The technology can also generate hydrogen from ammonia, a common substance, easy to find globally. This makes GenCell’s generators cheaper to use than the alternative and more polluting diesel generators, according to the company.
Serial entrepreneur Benny Landa is a strategic investor in the company through Landa Ventures. Paz Oil Company is also an investor, which employs 80 workers, including energy professionals from space and submarine programs.
“We intend to invest the capital raised in this IPO to accelerate our R&D activities, to establish advanced manufacturing capabilities in Israel for our core technologies and to expand our activities in international markets, aiming within the coming years to make GenCell a leading global player in our field,” said Rami Reshef, CEO and co-founder of GenCell in a statement.
