Dec 4, 2025 9:00 AM Eastern Standard Time
The company is producing cost-advantaged ammonia from locations without abundant natural gas supply as it prepares for its first field pilot.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Addis Energy, a company harnessing the Earth’s potential for affordable, abundant ammonia production, today announced it has raised $8.3 million in an oversubscribed seed round, bringing the company’s total funding to date to $17.3 million. The round was led by At One Ventures, with existing investors Engine Ventures and Pillar VC also participating. Addis Energy will use the fresh capital to further advance its AI-aided laboratory of chemical reactors that simulate subsurface conditions to produce ammonia at a cost advantage versus Haber-Bosch through a net energy-positive process. The company will also use the capital to expand its operations team and prepare for its first field pilot demonstration.
Ammonia is a critical component of the global food supply, with approximately 70% used to make fertilizer. Demand for ammonia is projected to increase 25% over the next five years; however, traditional ammonia production is extremely energy intensive, consuming ~2% of global energy. Over a third of traditional ammonia production costs come from consumption of natural gas as a feedstock and fuel for the high temperature, high pressure reaction. Addis Energy is scaling a fundamentally new approach to replace the energy-intensive process of traditional ammonia production. By identifying ferrous rocks, injecting water, nitrogen and catalyst to drive an ammonia synthesis reaction, the company leverages the chemical potential of iron plus the natural heat and pressure of the subsurface. Addis Energy dramatically decreases the energy intensity and costs versus typical ammonia produced from natural gas.
“By merging chemical innovation developed out of MIT with on-the-ground oil and gas industry experience, Addis Energy is enabling energy abundance and affordability, and creating new economic opportunities for domestic energy production with zero emissions,” said Michael Alexander, CEO and co-founder of Addis Energy. “Considering the U.S. imports ~12% of the domestic ammonia supply, we have a timely opportunity to create a new platform for U.S.-led, domestic clean fuel and chemical production. This funding will allow us to scale our novel approach to ammonia production and get ‘shovel-ready’ for our first pilot.”
Following its January 2025 launch, Addis Energy has:Signed a partnership with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, one of the U.S. Department of Energy’s national laboratories, to conduct reactive transport modeling based on the laboratory’s expertise drilling wells and modeling chemical reactions in carbon sequestration and in-situ mining.
Sourced 600+ rock samples from various geologies and rock formations across the U.S. to demonstrate cost-advantage production of ammonia in new locations where natural gas supply isn’t abundant.
Hired 3 new full-time employees, with Douglas Wicks, previously the Program Director at ARPA-E, the U.S. Department of Energy’s advanced energy research agency, and Doug Hollett, previously the Acting Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy, also joining as advisors.
“Addis Energy is not trying to “green” ammonia. They’re throwing out the model entirely. Instead of spending billions to recreate extreme pressure and heat above ground, they use what already exists underground. The Earth becomes the reactor,” said Laurie Menoud, Partner at At One Ventures. “Haber-Bosch is one of the most efficient industrial processes ever built, which is exactly why incremental innovations won’t compete with it. The only way to win is to change the physics and the system architecture. Addis is doing both. And that’s how you get a cost curve that incumbents simply can’t follow.”
In the coming months, Addis Energy will work to complete its nation-wide geological mapping and prepare for its first pilot field test.
About Addis Energy
Addis Energy is on a mission to revolutionize how we feed and fuel our world by unleashing the Earth’s potential for clean ammonia production. The company’s novel technology involves the injection of nitrogen and water into iron-rich rocks, using in-situ subsurface heat and pressure to produce geologic ammonia via a carbon-free and net energy-positive process. Addis Energy is backed by At One Ventures, Engine Ventures, Pillar VC, and Voyager Ventures. For more information, visit addisenergy.com or follow the company on LinkedIn.
About At One Ventures
At One Ventures invests in deep-tech startups catalyzing a world where humanity is a net positive to nature. The firm is highly technical and was founded by Tom Chi, former Head of Experience and founding member at Google X. At One Ventures finds, funds, and grows companies that are using disruptive deep tech to upend the unit economics of established industries while dramatically reducing their planetary footprint. To date, At One Ventures has invested in 51 companies, including Colossal Biosciences, Ascend Elements, Monarch Tractor, Cruz Foam and CUBY Technologies. For more information, please visit https://www.atoneventures.com/.
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