LENR Investors

By Lutz Jaitner, last update: January 2021
With input from divers sources, e.g. company web sites, web site of the European Union, press releases

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

• Personal contacts to ENEA via Prof. Vittorio Violante
• Observes the ICCF meetings via Lowell Wood (who formerly worked with Edward Teller)
• Donated $6M to Seashore Research LLC / Texas Tech University (Robert Duncan)

Breakthrough Energy

• Initiative launched in 2015 by Bill Gates, John Doerr, Jeff Bezos, George Soros, Mark Zuckerberg, Hasso Plattner, Richard Branson and many other rich/influential people
• Claims to invest in countries, where the governments participate in the initiative Mission InnovationThe public wording pushes for “clean energy” in the flavor of the traditional renewable energies (solar, wind, hydropower, etc.). Does not name "cold fusion" or "LENR" at its web page
• Bill Gates: "Breakthroughs in energy technologies could reduce air pollution, help people escape poverty, and avoid the worst effects of climate change. We don't yet know which ones will succeed. So we need to explore lots of ideas with investments from both the government and the private sector." One would think that this includes the many attempts of LENR research.
• Interestingly, the buzzword "breakthrough" appears multiple times in descriptions and presentations of the EU-funded CleanHME project. The European Commission is one of the governments, which have singed to "Mission Innovation". So it is conceivable, that the Horizon 2020 initiative has been suggested and influenced by Breakthrough Energy

Breakthrough Energy Ventures, USA and Europe

• This is a group of investors working together in a fund committed to the guiding principles of Breakthrough Energy, including supporting net-zero emissions technology and ensuring affordable, reliable, and clean energy for all
• The group comprises of 22 rich people, including Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Michael Bloomberg (Bloomberg LP), Richard Branson (Virgin Group), John Doerr (Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers), Bill Gates (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), Jack Ma (Alibaba Group), Hasso Plattner (SAP SE) and others
• Breakthrough Energy Ventures Europe is a €100 million pilot fund and partnership with the European Commission to help decarbonize the European economy
• The investment portfolio doesn't list any LENR startups (as of 2020), but this might change in the future based on the demonstrated LENR interest of Bill Gates

Cherokee Investment Partners LLC (DRV)

• Tom Darden (founder and CEO), John Mazzarino (founder and managing principle)
• Cherokee formed a subsidiary called Industrial Heat LLC, originally to commercialize the E-cat of Rossi's Leonardo corporation (see Industrial Heat)

CleanHME

• CleanHME stands for "Clean Hydrogen Metal Energy". It is a project funded by the European Union with € 5.5 million as part of the Horizon 2020 funding round. The consortium and the funding sums of this project are described at https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/951974. The other projects of Horizon 2020 are described here
• The project web site describes an international consortium of research institutions and companies, who are engaged in developing "a new, clean, safe, compact and very efficient energy source based on Hydrogen-Metal and plasma systems, which could be a breakthrough for both private use as well as for industrial applications" (quoted from their web page)
• The term "breakthrough" in this quotation could be indicative for a connection with Breakthrough Energy
• The consortium is led by Prof. Dr. Konrad Czerski of University of Szczecin and the Institute for Solid-State Nuclear Physics (IFK)
• The web site further states: "The new energy source could be employed both as a small mobile system or alternatively as a stand-alone heat and electricity generator. We plan to construct a new compact reactor to test the HME technology during the long-term experiments and increase its technology readiness level. A comprehensive theory of HME phenomena shall be worked out as well"
• Interestingly, the terms "LENR" and "Cold Fusion" are avoided by the project
• A follow-up project called "HERMES" has been started by the EU Horizon 2020 project to analyze the palladium / deuterium electrolysis including the nano-structuring of materials. The HERMES project is funded with € 4 million. The project consortium is led by Prof. Pekka Peljo of University of Turku, Finland.

Deep River Ventures LLC, USA

• Principles: Dewey Weaver (Founder and Managing Partner), Paul Morris (prolific inventor)
• Intellectual properties consulting firm
• DRV and Industrial Heat were jointly engaged with Leonardo Corporation / Rossi before their contract was severed in court

French Society of Condensed Matter Nuclear Science (SFSNMC), France

• Principal: Jacques Ruer (President)
• Organizes a bi-annual LENR symposium in France

GU Ventures AB, Sweden

• Business incubator of the University of Gothenburg with a portfolio of about 60 holdings and 40 exited startups (as of 2019)
• Invested in Norrønt Fusion Energy AS

Industrial Heat LLC, USA

• Cherokee Investment Partners LLC formed in 2012 a subsidiary called Industrial Heat LLC originally to commercialize LENR
• Tom Darden (founder and CEO), Dewy Weaver (co-founder and investor relations manager), J. Vaughn
• Advisors: Edmund Storms, Yeon Kim, Mel Miles, Jed Rothwell, Larry Forsley, Pamela A. Boss
• In 2013 bought the rights for the E-cat LENR device from Andrea Rossi's Leonardo Corporation for $11 million plus a postponed $89 million installment targeted for the completion of the 1 MW plant test
• Woodford Investment Management LLP invested around $50 million in Industrial Heat
• Broke ties with Rossi and Leonardo Corporation after the one-year testing of the 1 MW E-Cat plant
• Settled in court with Rossi, such that Rossi/Leonardo Corporation got back the rights on the E-Cat, but did not receive the remaining $89 million payment of the $100 million contract
• It was learned from court files that Industrial Heat is making small investments in many of the current LENR researchers and startups (as of 2017 the estimated fundings were: $500k to Dennis Letts, $2M to Cooper Core Tech Inc., $1M to UniTSEM, $300k to Peter Hagelstein, $1M to Tadahiko Mizuno, $1.5M to JET Energy, $1M to Chava Energy, $500k to Lenuco, $500k to Brillouin Energy, $1M to PointSource, $500k Francesco Piantelli)
• Industrial Heat also invested in Francesco Celani and Mathieu Valat of the Martin Fleischmann Memorial Project, as well as in Dr. Ubaldo Mastromatteo (ARGAL)

International Society for Condensed Matter Nuclear Science (ISCMNS), UK

• Its stated mission is to promote the understanding, development and application of Condensed Matter Nuclear Science for the benefit of the public
• ISCMNS publishes the peer reviewed Journal of Condensed Matter Nuclear Science (JCMNS).

LENR Cities and LENRG, Switzerland

• Initiative launched by Michel Vanderberghe and Didier Pelluet
• Aims to create a networks between industry, investors, scientist
• Market development for LENR
• Cooperations with LENR Invest

LENRIA

• Initiated by Prof. David J. Nagel and Steven B. Katinsky around 2013
• LENR is an industrial association for LENR
• Organized the ICCF-21
• Published the "LENR Ecosystem", i.e. a list of organizations working on LENR. Unfortunately, this list was not updated since 2015.
• Maintains the "CMNS / LENR / Cold Fusion Journal Rejection Database", where LENR researchers can record their experience with journals rejecting LENR articles, especially if the rejection appears to be based on negative bias ageinst the field of LENR
• A stated goal of David Nagel was to build a standardized LENR reactor with a calorimeter for replication of the Fleischmann/Pons experiment in a number of established research institutes. This was ment to document the reproducibility of LENR in order to build up (repair) the reputation of LENR in institutional science.

LENR Invest, Switzerland and USA

• Michael Halem (CEO), Dr. Antoine Guillemin (Senior Managing Director) and Tyler van Houwelingen (Senior Managing Director)
• Tyler van Houwelingen is also the Development Director of the Martin Fleischmann Memorial Project
• Invested in LENR Cars, Brillouin Energy, Lenuco LLC, NicHenergy
• Sponsor of E-Cat World
• Investments mainly to bridge the gap between lab demonstration and industrial prototype. Also interested in development and cross promotion of compelling LENR related Intellectual Property

Martin Fleischmann Memorial Project (MFMP)

• The web site of the MFMP is maintained by Bob Geenyer and Ryan Hunt
• Research of the MFMP is done at the following labs: Earthtech International, Hunt Utilities Group, Mathieu Valat, Permanetix Corporation
• Tyler van Houwelingen of LENR Invest claims to be the Development Director of MFMP, but this is not stated at the web site of MFMP
• Committed to the principle of Live Open Science, i.e. the project is dedicated to researching LENR while sharing all procedures, data, and results openly online
• Wants to overcome the hurdle of institutional bias by crowd-funding. Raised $ 45 thousand as of 2020.

New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), Japan

• NEDO is a national research and development agency in Japan
• NEDO started in 2015 to fund LENR research. The initial budget for one year was $27M
• The joint research team of NEDO's nano-metal hydrogen energy project (NEDO-MHE) consisted of Technova, Nissan and the universities Tohoku, Kyushu, Nagoya and Kobe
• In 1994, the Japanese government, through the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MITI), sponsored an earlier research program called the New Hydrogen Energy Agency. It ran for several years at a cost of several million dollars. It terminated after researchers reported lackluster results.

Carl Page

• Is the brother of former Alphabet/Google CEO Larry Page
• Strong supporter of the field, which he knows well
• Invested in Brillouin Energy and is one of its board members

Quantum Gravity Research, USA

• Quantum Gravity Research (QGR) is a non-profit research institute founded in 2009
• Klee Irwin is the director of QGR. He is also the founder and owner of Irwin Naturals
• Quantum Gravity Research is working on a graph-theoretic approach to quantum gravity and particle physics with the aim to discover the geometric first-principles of a unified physical theory
• QGR supports the outstanding work of individuals based anywhere in the world in the fields of mathematics and physics (including LENR research) with grants
• Klee Irwin is the co-author of several LENR papers presented at ICCF conferences

Sunrise Securities LLC, USA

• NYC investment bank who was cited by Brillouin as their investor

Woodford Investment Management LLP, UK

• In 2015 Woodford Investment Management invested in Industrial Heat around $50M after a due diligence of 2.5 years
• The Woodford company was closed in 2019 after its flagship Woodford Equity Income fund had to be liquidated
• The assets of the Woodford Patient Capital Trust were transfered to Schroders in 2019. These assets include a stake in Industrial Heat worth of 55 million british pounds (as of September 2019). The other stake in Industrial Heat was held by the liquidated Woodford Equity Income fund. This stake was valued 70 million british pounds at the same time according to Link Fund Solutions.