Summary

  • Universal Hydrogen closed due to lack of funding and a failed merger.
  • The company aimed to develop hydrogen-powered flight but faced infrastructure challenges.
  • Despite achieving a hydrogen-powered flight in 2023, the company couldn’t secure further financing.

On Thursday, June 27, Universal Hydrogen officially closed its doors. The company has been a leader in developing hydrogen-powered flight over the past several years. However, Universal Hydrogen officially revealed it had burned through the over $100 million of cash received from several prominent investors.

Running out of investment money

Universal Hydrogen officially announced its plans to close in a letter to shareholders that was released on Thursday, June 27. Per The Seattle Times, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Universal Hydrogen, Mark Cousin, revealed that the company was unable to secure anymore funding from outside investors. Specifically, Cousin stated,

“We were unable to secure sufficient equity or debt financing to continue operations and similarly were unable to secure an actionable offer for a sale of the business or similar strategic exit transaction.”

Allegedly, Cousin and the executive team at Universal Hydrogen had attempted to raise additional funding from both outside investors and existing investors. A last ditch effort to save the company was made by the executive team after it was unable to secure funding. The company attempted to merge with the regional airline Silver Airways. The merger would allow the regional airline to retrofit its aircraft with hydrogen-powered engines, but fell through due to the current financial status of Silver Airways.

Dash 8 hydrogen test bed

Photo: Universal Hydrogen

One of the co-founders of Universal Hydrogen confirmed the closure of the company in a post on LinkedIn. Specifically, Jon Gordon stated,

“Perhaps we were just too early. Perhaps we couldn’t convince the world that hydrogen, and not just SAF, are necessary for the future of aviation. Time will tell.”

Gordon closed his statement by mentioning that he still believes hydrogen will be used in aviation in the future. As a result of this, Gordon wished luck to several other aviation companies that are in the process of researching hydrogen aviation. This includes ZeroAvia and Airbus.

The story of Universal Hydrogen

As previously mentioned, Universal Hydrogen was founded in 2020 in Hawthorne, California. The company was founded by several prominent figures in the aviation world, including Jason Chua, John-Paul Clarke, Paul Eremenko, and Jon Gordon, as previously stated.

The goal of Universal Hydrogen was to attempt to prove hydrogen-powered flight was possible within a decade. The company also wanted to begin implementing hydrogen-engines and fuel cells in aircraft. However, one major obstacle to bringing hydrogen-powered flight to the aviation industry was the necessary changes to the existing infrastructure at airports across the world. Most airports are set up for aviation fuel, yet hydrogen-powered flight would require airports to begin offering hydrogen as fuel, a difficult undertaking.

A 208B Cessna Grand Caravan

 Photo: magniX

However, Universal Hydrogen achieved flight utilizing a hydrogen-powered flight on March 2, 2023. The company flew a modified De Havilland Canada Dash 8. The aircraft used a hydrogen fuel cell and powertrain on one side of the aircraft. The engine was provided by MagniX and the fuel cell was provided by Plug Power. The flight was conducted out of Moses Lake at Grant County International Airport (MWH). The flight represented the largest aircraft to cruise using hydrogen power.

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