Hephae Raises $17.8M Series A for Superhot Geothermal Drilling

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Hephae Energy Technology, a geothermal technology company based in Spring, Texas, has closed $17.8 million in Series A funding. Susquehanna Sustainable Investments and Underground Ventures co-led the round, with participation from alfa8, Baruch Future Ventures, Centaurus Capital, Elemental Impact, Exa Ventures, Future Ventures, the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, New System Ventures, True North Institute and Nabors Industries. The new capital takes the total raised to $24.7 million.

The company builds ultrahigh-temperature robotics and drilling systems aimed at the next generation of geothermal energy. Its flagship Pandora210 Measurement-While-Drilling system is designed to run at temperatures up to 210 degrees Celsius, well beyond the roughly 175 degree benchmark of legacy tools, which lets operators place wells precisely in far hotter rock.

Hephae plans to put the money toward commercial deployment of its drilling systems, pushing the frontier of depth, heat and drilling speed. Part of the funding will also support research into a next generation of tools capable of operating beyond 300 degrees Celsius.