The Grenoble company Mantle8 announces that it has raised 31 million euros in series A to finance a global exploration and drilling campaign dedicated to natural hydrogen. The operation is led by Sandwater with the participation of Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the Ecotechnologies 2 fund managed by Bpifrance on behalf of the French State, as well as IP Group, Wind Capital and Calderion.
With this operation, Mantle8 brings its cumulative financing to 37 million euros. The startup is now entering an industrial phase aimed at demonstrating the existence of commercially exploitable natural hydrogen reservoirs.
The company, founded in 2019 in Grenoble, develops proprietary geological exploration technologies capable of identifying underground accumulations of high purity hydrogen. Its approach is based in particular on HOREX®, a multiphysics 4D imaging platform intended to map active hydrogen systems in the subsurface.
The subject goes well beyond the framework of a niche energy innovation. For several years, the hydrogen industry has faced a complex economic equation. “Green” hydrogen, produced via electrolysis, remains highly dependent on the cost of electricity and associated infrastructure. In this context, natural hydrogen, sometimes referred to as “white hydrogen” or “geologic hydrogen”, is now attracting manufacturers, investors and States looking for a less expensive low-carbon source.
Mantle8 estimates that its models could achieve production costs of around 0.80 euros per kilogram, a level much lower than the costs generally observed in European green hydrogen.
“Hydrogen constitutes a crucial element of our future decarbonized industrial system. However, the importance of its role will depend on its price and its origin,” the company indicates in a press release.
The central question, however, remains that of the commercial viability of the deposits. Although the presence of natural hydrogen in the earth’s subsoil has been scientifically documented for a long time, no company has yet demonstrated the capacity to sustainably exploit large-scale reservoirs according to the economic standards of the energy industry.
It is precisely on this point that Mantle8 wants to differentiate itself. “The existence of natural hydrogen is a well-established scientific fact. The challenge is to identify accumulations of high purity free hydrogen that are commercially exploitable,” says Emmanuel Masini, founder and CEO of Mantle8. “I am proud that we have developed and patented a complete technology stack to address this critical challenge. »
The funds raised will be used to finance the next two years of exploration and especially the drilling campaigns, a decisive step in confirming the quality of the identified reservoirs. Mantle8 plans to use its technology to select and then prioritize several sites before carrying out the first industrial tests intended to measure volumes, purity and quality of the reservoirs.
“The next steps are to identify prospects in our pipeline that meet our commercial criteria and then drill them,” continues Emmanuel Masini.
Mantle8’s positioning is part of a broader geopolitical dynamic around European energy sovereignty. Since the energy shock caused by the war in Ukraine, Europe has sought to reduce its dependence on gas imports and secure new low-carbon energy resources.
Investors also explicitly highlight this strategic dimension. “Natural hydrogen sits at the intersection of energy transition and resource discovery, two areas where Europe must play a leading role as it seeks to strengthen its energy sovereignty,” said Tom Even Mortensen, founder and managing partner of Sandwater.
This fundraising also illustrates a broader transfer of climate capital towards physical infrastructure and so-called “hard tech” technologies. After several years dominated by decarbonization software, carbon platforms or energy optimization tools, investors are gradually returning to heavy industrial issues: extraction, geology, strategic materials and energy infrastructure.
Mantle8 is located precisely at this convergence between mining exploration, geophysical technologies, industrial sovereignty and energy transition.
The challenge for the coming months will now be to transform a geological promise into an exploitable energy asset. “The next two years should demonstrate that the active hydrogen systems identified by our technology can produce sustainable and commercially viable flows,” summarizes Bart Markus, chairman of Mantle8.
If the company manages to demonstrate the existence of a first profitable reservoir, the impact could be considerable for the European energy industry, but also for the entire hydrogen economy, the main obstacle of which today remains the cost of production.
