Mote’s core product is its patented Biomass Carbon Removal and Storage (BiCRS) technology that converts agricultural and forestry waste into clean hydrogen and other energy outputs while permanently sequestering CO₂. The company’s innovations increase hydrogen production, enhance efficiency, and reduce emissions, positioning the technology as a scalable carbon-negative energy solution. Mote’s process is spun out of research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and has garnered support from the U.S. Department of Energy, CalFire, and the U.S. Forest Service. The technology targets sectors that rely on hydrogen, including transportation, industrial manufacturing, and energy storage, and aims to strengthen domestic energy independence and grid resilience. Near-term plans include advancing Mote’s first commercial-scale facility, expanding engineering capabilities, and accelerating strategic partnerships across the hydrogen, forestry, and energy sectors. The company emphasizes co-benefits for forestry and land management, wildfire prevention, and local economic development through a circular-economy approach. Mote Hydrogen develops a gasification process that heats wood waste and forest biomass in a low-oxygen oven to produce hydrogen while converting and capturing CO/CO2 for underground storage. The company plans a roughly $100 million gasification plant in Kern County to leverage local geology for permanent CO2 sequestration. Mote says the plant could process and store up to 150,000 tons of CO2 per year and produce up to 5,000 tons of hydrogen annually. It launched in early 2020 and has raised a little over $1 million in seed funding from investors including Preston-Werner Ventures and Counteract Partners. The startup is seeking additional equity and construction financing as it pursues public approvals for the project. Mote intends to monetize emissions reductions via California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard credits and federal incentives such as the 45Q tax credit.

Total raised

$8M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Series A

Latest activity

Mar 2025