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INOCEL boost its growth with €64M financing

INOCEL, a pioneering player in high-power fuel cell systems for stationary energy generation, heavy duty mobility and maritime, has secured a structured financing of €64M consisting of equity, debt, and subsidies. Historical shareholders participated in the fundraising operation.

Saint-Egrève, France – Founded in May 2022, INOCEL is revolutionizing the fuel cell market with high-power solutions offering levels of efficiency, responsiveness and performance that compete uncompromisingly with diesel and hydrogen combustion engine solutions. The company designs, tests, and manufactures a 300 kW fuel cell to decarbonize stationary energy generation, heavy duty mobility and maritime applications. The company’s product, designed to be modular and plug & play, incorporates numerous innovations, some of which stem from CEA, Europe’s leading research center in fuel cells.

INOCEL team is now up to over 80 people, structured around 2 strategic sites: its product development and testing center located in Saint-Egrève and its 15,000 m2 production plant in Belfort which will eventually employ 700 people. The company’s industrialization and production activities will continue to expand this year. The company has advanced expertise in the design of its systems and associated software management, as well as highly experienced teams in the industrialization and large-scale production of complex products.

INOCEL benefits from the expertise of its subsidiary GEKO, specialized in the integration and sizing of complex systems related to its fuel cell.

Today, INOCEL is an independent company structured around leading private and industrial investors.

INOCEL is delighted to have finalized a €64M financing package in early 2024, marking a significant milestone in the company’s development. This financing will enable the company to:

–       Finalize the industrialization of its product;

–       Deliver pre-production runs asearly as 2024; 

–       Commission the Belfort production line by the end of 2024;

–       Internalize its test tools;

–       Increase production rate, with a “Start Of Production” series in the 1st half of 2025;

–       Accelerate sales growth.

To date, the company has validated the relevance of its strategy, product,and offering, as evidenced by the numerous commercial contracts under discussion and the confidence of investors and banks.

INOCEL announces its 300 kW High Power Z300 Fuel Cell

INOCEL 300 kw high power hydrogen fuel cell

Grenoble, November 30, 2022 – After two years of research and development, INOCEL announces its first commercial product, a 300 kW fuel cell adapted for stationary, marine, heavy ground mobility, and applications. This will be the first fuel cell of such power to be commercially available by 2024. With its technology, INOCEL promises high power, compactness, modularity, efficiency, and responsiveness.

INOCEL is accelerating the energy transition by democratizing high power and efficient fuel cell technologies with the ambition of contributing to the decarbonization of the planet. INOCEL believes it has a role to play in the hydrogen industry with a proposed solution that will rapidly make a difference in multiple segments. There are some use cases in heavy mobility and stationary applications where technical barriers still persist today. For this reason, INOCEL worked on a technology to overcome these challenges and to have a rapid and large-scale impact on the reduction of CO2 emissions.

Built on the foundation of 25 years of R&D by the CEA, a top French research institute, 30 engineers and researchers have worked for the past two years on the development of the INOCEL technology: A high power solution made for stationary, marine, and heavy ground mobility segments, which all require power, efficiency, and durability.

The four differentiating features of the Z300 Fuel Cell:
– A compactness to power ratio, i.e. power for a given weight and volume 3 times greater than the market standard. Indeed, the INOCEL fuel cell delivers a power of 300 kW for a weight of 100 kg and a volume of less than 110 liters.
– Modularity: this fuel cell can be integrated into systems with power ranging from 300 kW to 3 MW. Our 3MW system is packaged in a standard size container, which makes it a compact solution.
– A level of energy efficiency reaching up to 60% with durability to the best market standard. This allows the INOCEL module to be competitive in terms of operating costs over the entire life of the product.
– A very high responsiveness, with a rise to full power in less than 1.5 seconds. Thus, the INOCEL fuel cell can be integrated in applications requiring very low hybridization of systems, resulting in smaller batteries, limiting mass and size.

INOCEL will present its first marine demonstrator during the Paris Boat Show at the Parc des Exposants de la Porte de Versailles in Hall 1 at booth F50. With equivalent power and autonomy characteristics to its thermal counterpart, this demonstrator helps INOCEL prove that a high-powered, long-range hydrogen world is possible without any concession to thermal technologies.

About INOCEL
INOCEL is a company based in the Grenoble region that designs, manufactures, and markets high power, modular fuel cells for the stationary, marine and heavy ground mobility sectors. Its expertise includes the development of fuel cell technologies as well as the integration and dimensioning of a complete energy chain. INOCEL also supports its customers with predictive maintenance, monitoring and advanced control services.


INOCEL masters the entire value chain of the fuel cell system, from the bipolar plate to the auxiliary components, which gives it a detailed knowledge of the components and allows it to control its quality and cost chain.


INOCEL also participates in the development of future industry standards to stay ahead of the development of tomorrow’s products and services.
More information on www.inocel.com.

INOCEL selected for the first edition of the French Tech 2030

French Tech 2030

INOCEL has been selected as part of the inaugural cohort of the French Tech 2030 program. This ambitious program is led by the Secrétariat Général à l’Investissement, in collaboration with Mission French Tech and Bpifrance. Over the course of a year, INOCEL will be supported by Mission French Tech in developing innovative solutions to societal and sovereignty challenges.


The cohort brings together 125 emerging players aligned with the strategic verticals of France 2030. These verticals are ecological transition, healthcare, digital, agrifood, new technological frontiers, and education. Among the winners, 38% are involved in the ecological transition, highlighting INOCEL’s crucial role in building a sustainable future.


The participating companies were selected from 844 applications following a rigorous process led by representatives of the Directorate General for Enterprise, the Directorate General for Research and Innovation, the Defense Innovation Agency, the Health Innovation Agency, and the General Commissariat for Sustainable Development. The selection criteria were based on the companies’ contribution to the specific objectives of France 2030 and to the consolidation of France’s industrial and technological sovereignty.


INOCEL is proud to be one of this year’s winners, which proves the company’s economic and technological maturity. This recognition strengthens our position as a technological leader and will enable us to seize new economic, social, and employment opportunities.


As a winner of French Tech 2030, INOCEL will receive full support from Mission French Tech. The company will be accompanied by a start-up manager and will be in contact with the 60 “French Tech Correspondents.” INOCEL will also benefit from support on regulatory, normative, commercial, and industrial aspects, as well as increased visibility in France and internationally.


Bpifrance’s reinforced support will give INOCEL access to public funding under France 2030, as well as opportunities to meet public and private buyers.

INOCEL installe sa gigafactory à Belfort, une nouvelle étape franchie pour les piles à combustible de très forte puissance

Acteur majeur de la décarbonation avec sa pile à combustible révolutionnaire, INOCEL lance son usine de production grand volume à Belfort, en Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Objectif : produire dès 2024 la pile à combustible basse température la plus puissante, compacte et performante du marché mondial (300 kW), et atteindre la production de dizaine de milliers d’unités par an à horizon 2030. En trois ans, la pile INOCEL Z300 est prête pour la production. Le choix d’implantation de sa gigafactory s’est porté vers Belfort, territoire connu pour être précurseur dans le domaine de l’hydrogène et à l’écosystème industriel fort.

Que ce soit pour la production d’électricité stationnaire, la mobilité terrestre lourde ou encore le transport maritime, INOCEL apporte une réponse sans précédent à la problématique de décarbonation. Son système efficient, endurant, compact, réactif et modulaire, se différencie d’ores-et-déjà sur le marché mondial des solutions hydrogène. La pile INOCEL lève ainsi des freins technologiques : elle rend possible l’utilisation de systèmes hydrogène pour des cas d’usages attendus pas les industriels pour lesquels à ce jour il n’existe pas de solution performante. Avec un produit de 300 kW disponible dès 2024, INOCEL se positionne comme le seul acteur de la pile à combustible très forte puissance et prépare les futures générations d’une gamme de produits de puissance  500 kW.

Pour répondre à la forte demande du marché, INOCEL annonce l’installation de son usine de production 4.0 en Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, à Belfort, dans le parc d’activités Techn’hom. Produit complémentaire aux solutions existantes, la pile à combustible INOCEL permettra d’assoir la souveraineté française et européenne dans l’hydrogène avec sa solution de pile à combustible très forte puissance. L’entreprise a pour objectif de produire ses piles dans un niveau de volume, de qualité et de prix attendu par le marché. Le site de production de plus de 15 000 m² doit en effet soutenir la production de dizaines de milliers d’unités par an et fournir dès 2024 des solutions clés en main aux industriels. Production annuelle visée d’ici à 2030 : 30 000 systèmes piles à combustible par an.

La Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, terre d’avenir pour les piles à combustible du futur

Pour ce faire, INOCEL recrutera plus de 150 personnes d’ici fin 2024, 700  personnes d’ici 2030 et fait le choix stratégique de se développer dans une région reconnue pour ses compétences clés et son écosystème industriel complémentaire. Ce site viendra compléter le centre de R&D de Grenoble de 60 employés, hub technologique proche d’entités de recherche de premier rang mondial telles que le CEA, dont la technologie utilisée par INOCEL est issue.

En choisissant la Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, INOCEL bénéficie du fort soutien d’un territoire précurseur en France dans le domaine de l’hydrogène.

L’implantation de son usine dynamisera le bassin d’emplois ainsi qu’un secteur industriel qui soutient une industrie hydrogène de pointe. Enfin, et dans une logique de décarbonation globale, l’usine de INOCEL est pensée pour avoir l’impact environnemental le plus faible possible.

A propos de INOCEL

INOCEL conçoit, produit et commercialise des piles à combustible fortes puissances, modulaires, dans les secteurs du stationnaire, de la marine et de la mobilité lourde terrestre. Son savoir-faire englobe le développement de technologies pile à combustible ainsi que de leurs intégrations dans un système complet. INOCEL accompagne également ses clients avec des services de maintenance prédictive, de monitoring et de contrôle commande avancé.

INOCEL est une société française implantée en France sur 2 sites stratégiques, un centre de R&D à Grenoble, pôle d’innovation et de technologie et une gigafactory qui accueillera une ligne de production capable de produire des dizaines de milliers d’unités par an à Belfort, un pôle hydrogène et un territoire industriel à la pointe de la technologie.

INOCEL maîtrise l’ensemble de la chaine de valeur du système pile à combustible, de la plaque bipolaire aux composants auxiliaires ce qui lui confère une connaissance précise des constituants et lui permet de maîtriser sa chaine qualité et de coût.

INOCEL participe également à l’élaboration des futures normes du secteur afin d’avoir une longueur d’avance au développement des produits et des services de demain.

Plus d’informations sur : www.inocel.com