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§ Private Profile · Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Tulum Energy is a technology company.
Tulum Energy develops a novel platform for producing clean hydrogen through advanced methane pyrolysis. The company utilizes repurposed, commercially available equipment, delivering substantial volumes of turquoise hydrogen at competitive costs. This highly efficient system is tailored for industrial applications requiring significant clean energy input.
Founded in 2024, Tulum Energy spun out of TechEnergy Ventures, the venture-building arm of the Techint Group. Co-founder and CEO Massimiliano Pieri leads the company, building upon an insight from a two-decade-old observation regarding methane pyrolysis. This discovery, initially from a steel plant furnace, forms the core of Tulum Energy’s scalable low-carbon hydrogen solution.
The company targets industrial customers within hard-to-abate sectors, including heavy industry, refining, and chemical production. Tulum Energy's vision centers on advancing global decarbonization across these critical industries by providing an economically viable and environmentally responsible method for hydrogen production, shaping future industrial energy needs.
Tulum Energy has raised $27.0M across 1 funding round.
Tulum Energy has raised $27.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Tulum Energy has raised $27.0M across 1 funding round. Most recently, it raised $27.0M Seed in July 2025.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 1, 2025 | $27M Seed | TDK Ventures, Cristina Tomassini | Extantia Capital, Piva Capital, Doral Energy Tech Ventures, Mito Tech Ventures, Alejandro Solé | Announced |
Tulum Energy has raised $27.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Tulum Energy's investors include TDK Ventures, Cristina Tomassini, Extantia Capital, Piva Capital, Doral Energy-Tech Ventures, MITO Tech Ventures, Alejandro Solé.
Tulum Energy is a climate-tech startup developing methane pyrolysis technology to produce "turquoise hydrogen" from natural gas, converting methane into hydrogen and solid carbon without CO2 emissions.[1][2][4] It serves heavy industries like refineries, chemicals, and steel production that require large-scale hydrogen, solving the problem of high-emission traditional methods (e.g., steam methane reforming) by offering a cleaner, cost-competitive alternative using repurposed equipment.[1][3][4] With just 3 employees, the company raised an oversubscribed $27 million seed round in 2025 led by CDP Venture Capital and TDK Ventures, enabling a pilot plant in Mexico.[2][3][5]
This positions Tulum as a scalable solution for decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors, targeting $1.50 per kg of hydrogen at full scale—only 50 cents above fossil-based methods—while monetizing carbon byproducts for tires, batteries, and construction.[2][5]
Tulum Energy emerged from a forgotten 2000s experiment within the Techint Group, where an electric arc furnace accidentally produced hydrogen via methane pyrolysis, but the discovery was shelved as hydrogen demand was low.[2] In 2022, TechEnergy Ventures (Tecpetrol's CVC arm) and Tenova (a Techint industrial tech provider) revived it through a strategic alliance, spinning out the startup with IP, a team, and seed capital.[3][5]
Massimiliano Pieri serves as CEO, leveraging the Techint ecosystem for rapid development.[2][3] Pivotal traction came with the 2025 $27M seed round from TDK Ventures, CDP Venture Capital, Doral Energy-Tech Ventures, MITO Tech Ventures, and TechEnergy, funding a pilot at Ternium's (Techint steel) Mexico site.[2][3][5]
Tulum rides the turquoise hydrogen trend, bridging gray hydrogen's low cost/emissions with green hydrogen's cleanliness amid surging industrial demand (projected to double).[5][6] Timing aligns with energy transition pressures: policies favor low-emission H2, but green methods remain 2-3x costlier; Tulum undercuts them using abundant natural gas.[2][5]
Market forces like cheap U.S. gas/electricity and carbon byproduct markets favor it, targeting "hard-to-abate" sectors where CCS is impractical.[1][4] It influences the ecosystem by validating pyrolysis scalability, potentially accelerating adoption via Techint's steel/chemical networks and inspiring retrofits of legacy furnaces.[3][6]
Tulum Energy's pilot in Mexico (2025-2026) will prove tech at scale, with Ternium as anchor customer for hydrogen in direct reduced iron and carbon in processes—setting up commercial plants by late 2020s.[2][3] Rising H2 mandates, carbon pricing, and pyrolysis R&D (e.g., vs. Monolith) will shape growth, potentially dropping costs below $1.50/kg with optimizations.[2][5]
Its Techint ties could evolve it into a hydrogen supplier for conglomerates, expanding "turquoise" H2's role in net-zero industry, turning a rediscovered idea into clean energy infrastructure.[2][6]