Irish startup Nernst Electric has raised €1.7 million ($2 million) in seed funding from Hatch Blue's Blue Revolution Fund to advance its on-site oxygen generation technology for aquaculture and heavy industry, with plans to build and deploy its first pilot-scale unit under real-world conditions. The raise is directly relevant to manufacturers and industrial operators in sectors where continuous high-volume oxygen supply is a critical and costly operational input.

As reported by EU-Startups, Nernst first joined the Hatch Blue portfolio in July 2025, receiving pre-seed funding from Hatch Accelerator Fund II and entering Hatch Blue's accelerator programme. The seed round from Hatch Blue's Blue Revolution Fund marks the next stage of investment following that initial backing.

Founded in 2023 by Nick Farandos and Chris Matson, Nernst Electric combines expertise in solid oxide electrochemistry, advanced additive manufacturing and industrial gas deployment to produce high-purity oxygen directly at the point of use. Its ceramic membrane units separate oxygen from ambient air, delivering a continuous stream at above 99% purity, removing the need for trucked liquid oxygen or conventional PSA and VSA generators, which are expensive and logistically challenging for remote industrial sites.

Nick Farandos, CEO of Nernst Electric, said: "For decades, the limitations of conventional on-site oxygen generation have held back productivity across industries including aquaculture, mining, metallurgy, and steelmaking. Our breakthrough reactor technology removes those barriers, enabling the most efficient oxygen production at any scale with near-zero maintenance and the industry's lowest operating costs."

The funding will be used to build a demonstration unit and complete the company's first operational deployment at an aquaculture site. A successful demonstration is intended to support commercial customer trials and a Series A raise to accelerate expansion within the sector.

Caitriona Kelleher, managing director of early stage investments at Hatch Blue, said the team came into the accelerator programme with a manufacturing concept and built it into a working system ready for its first aquaculture deployment, describing that level of technical execution as the reason the Blue Revolution Fund was the right backer to take it further.

Carsten Krome, managing partner and co-founder of Hatch Blue, said the platform that solves critical oxygen supply for fish farms has industrial-scale application across heavy industry, describing Nernst as a clear example of cross-sector technology potential and the kind of company that gives the Blue Revolution Fund conviction to back it.