American magnate Bill Gates has invested in a former NASCAR driver’s $91 million startup. Investments and funds play an important role in the success of any venture. And when someone with a net worth of $118 billion invests in a startup, that startup is very unlikely to fail.
On the other hand, someone like Bill Gates will not invest just anywhere and everywhere. As an investor, his foremost interest must be in the ROI. Good news for him, this Denver-based startup is operating in a market that is expected to hit a whopping value of $260 Billion by 2030.
Koloma: the future of renewable energy
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What Koloma operates on is bound to illuminate the utility of Hydrogen, a highly combustible gas, on a whole different level.
Koloma started its venture in 2021 but has just recently chosen to come under the spotlight. The company spoke to Forbes magazine about its operations. Although they did not reveal the exact location of the wells and the expected commercialization timeline, Koloma explained that underground reactions between water and rock produce hydrogen, which gets trapped in fractures and cracks.
If utilized correctly, these vast stores of renewable and pure hydrogen have the potential to revolutionize energy generation. This will be especially useful as the Globe is battling serious climatic crises.
Former representative of NASCAR’S Drive for Diversity program Paul Harraka co-founded Koloma along with its CTO Tom Darrah. According to them, as H2 can produce energy with just water as a byproduct, it is possible to minimize the costs of producing energy. This could bring down the prices of electricity significantly.
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The multi-millionaire himself is a staunch believer in the renewability of hydrogen. According to an article by Carbon Credits.com, Gates thinks that hydrogen is the “Swiss Army knife” of renewable resources.
Paul Harraka, a Duke University graduate, has also given a TED Talk
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Paul Harraka created Koloma out of his inquisitive nature, which he inculcated while studying at Duke University. As a driver, he always focused on the technicalities of stock cars. With his expertise in machinery, he consistently aimed to make his car the swiftest.
In a TED Talk from 2014, Paul Harraka revealed the only question he asked himself before every race:
“I’ve always asked myself…how do I think differently?”
Harraka has always tried to leverage his education to help him win NASCAR races. He explained,
“So when I first got to Duke, I studied mechanical engineering, wanted to better understand the race cars that I’m driving. How can I understand and communicate with my engineer and my crew chief to have the fastest race car possible?”
“And it paid off… we won a lot of races… we won 11 of 24 races that year(2008)…” he added.
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A former NASCAR driver to the co-founder of a startup with investments from Bill Gates and other climate investors, it has indeed paid off for Harraka. Speaking of natural hydrogen and how beneficial it will be in terms of market returns, Toyota intends to sell 200,000 hydrogen-powered vehicles by 2030. So, this endeavor could hit a home run in the years to come.