New Zealand hydrogen steelmaker CullBeck raises NZ$20m to build Glenbrook demonstrator

New Zealand deep-tech start-up CullBeck has raised NZ$20 million to commercialise its hydrogen-based ironmaking technology, in what the company believes is the largest recorded first funding round for a New Zealand deep-tech firm.

The total includes an oversubscribed NZ$15 million equity round at a NZ$60 million valuation, with a further NZ$5 million contributed by an Australian customer taking an equity stake as a foundation investor. The round was led by Punakaiki Fund and its manager 2040 Ventures, alongside Outset Ventures, Motion Capital and Icehouse Ventures.

A spinout from Victoria University of Wellington’s Robinson Research Institute, CullBeck uses hydrogen as the chemical reductant in ironmaking, replacing the coking coal burned in a conventional blast furnace, and says its process can convert titanomagnetite ironsand or crushed ore into direct reduced iron in around 150 seconds, compared with eight to ten hours conventionally.

The approach is designed to unlock the vast titanomagnetite resources across the Asia-Pacific region that existing direct-reduction routes cannot handle without expensive processing. The funds will be used to prove the technology at commercial scale at a demonstration plant planned for Glenbrook, targeted for 2028.

The company has acknowledged that its first modules will initially run on conventionally produced hydrogen before transitioning to renewable supply, with steelmaking responsible for roughly 8 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions. CullBeck says it has also signed an anchor customer projecting more than NZ$1 billion in potential orders.