The archive · Climate & Energy · Technical decision · 2020–2026
Amogy bets cracked ammonia powers ships: NH3 Kraken sails, $80M at $700M
Four MIT alumni crack ammonia into hydrogen for fuel cells; world-first drone-to-tugboat demos drew >$300M and a Samsung manufacturing deal.
Amogy
What the business is
Amogy builds ammonia-to-power systems: a catalyst-based cracker splits ammonia into hydrogen and nitrogen, feeding fuel cells or engines that make electricity without combustion — for ships, trucks and on-site power.
Starting capital：$139M Series B-1 (announced March 2023); 2025 raises totaling $80M at a $700M valuation (TechCrunch); more than $300M raised since the 2020 founding (MIT News).
How it started
Four MIT alumni — Seonghoon Woo (PhD '15), Hyunho Kim, Jongwon Choi and Young Suk Jo — founded Amogy in 2020 after concluding that hydrogen's storage and transport problems had stalled the hydrogen economy. Their answer was ammonia: carbon-free, energy-dense, liquid at room temperature, and already manufactured and shipped at scale. They developed proprietary catalysts that crack NH3 into hydrogen and nitrogen with what MIT News reported as up to 70 percent better efficiency than state-of-the-art systems, avoiding combustion entirely.
What happened
Amogy built a series of world-first demonstrations: an ammonia-powered drone in 2021, then a farm tractor, a semi-truck and, in September 2024, the NH3 Kraken — a 1957 tugboat retrofitted with its ammonia-to-power system and sailed on the Hudson River. TechCrunch reported in December 2024 that Amogy had raised $11.2 million of a targeted $90 million round, and in July 2025 that it had closed $80 million at a $700 million valuation with the Korea Development Bank leading. By November 2025, MIT News reported more than $300 million raised, a new Houston research and manufacturing facility, a JGC Holdings pilot, and a multiyear Samsung Heavy Industries deal to manufacture its systems.
No ending yet — it is still running.
Background
Amogy, founded in 2020 by four MIT alumni including CEO Seonghoon Woo, bet that ammonia could replace diesel in heavy transport once someone built an efficient way to use it. Ammonia is carbon-free, energy-dense, liquid at room temperature, and already manufactured and transported worldwide, but burning it produces harmful nitrogen oxides. Amogy's answer was a proprietary catalyst that cracks ammonia into hydrogen and nitrogen — up to 70 percent more efficiently than state-of-the-art systems, per MIT News — feeding fuel cells and engines without combustion.
The company proved the technology by escalating world-first demonstrations: an ammonia-powered drone in 2021, then a farm tractor, a semi-truck, and in September 2024 a retrofitted 1957 tugboat, the NH3 Kraken, sailed on the Hudson River near New York. TechCrunch covered a December 2024 SEC filing showing $11.2 million raised toward a $90 million target — a sign of the climate-funding squeeze — and then reported in July 2025 that Amogy had closed $80 million at a $700 million valuation, with the Korea Development Bank leading and investors focused on demand from Japan and South Korea.
By November 2025 the company had raised more than $300 million, opened a Houston research and manufacturing facility, signed JGC Holdings for a catalyst pilot, and struck a multiyear deal for Samsung Heavy Industries to manufacture its systems. MIT News reported a planned 1 MW ammonia-to-power pilot in Pohang, South Korea in 2026, scaling toward 40 MW by 2028–29, with shipping and power-hungry industries such as data centers as the early customers.
What has to be true
- Ammonia's logistics already exist — roughly 20 million tons move through 200 ports a year — so Amogy only had to build the converter, not a new fuel supply chain.
- Cracking instead of burning avoids NOx and pilot fuel, answering the health objection that undermines most ammonia-combustion plans.
- Escalating world-first demos from drone to tugboat gave investors and industrial partners proof the catalyst scales beyond the lab.
- Regulation creates urgency: IMO's net-zero-by-2050 targets and a carbon levy due from 2027 give shipping a deadline, while Japan and Korea's ammonia co-firing plans create early stationary demand.
What can be applied
Sell against infrastructure that already exists: ammonia is produced and moved in millions of tons, so the winning bet was the missing converter, not a new fuel supply chain.
Aftermath
As of September 2026, Amogy has completed integrated ammonia-to-power testing of its AMMDrive system with Germany's 2G Energy at its Houston facility (announced August 2026) and is preparing customer deliveries under the Samsung Heavy Industries manufacturing agreement. A 1 MW ammonia-to-power pilot in Pohang, South Korea is slated for 2026, expanding toward a 40 MW commercial plant by 2028–29, with data centers named as near-term end users. The company says a commercial-scale ship system remains a couple of years away.
Sources
- NH3 Kraken sails on the Hudson River
- Exclusive: Green ammonia startup Amogy is trying to raise $90M to reduce truck pollution
- Amogy raises $80M to power ships and data centers with ammonia
- Unlocking ammonia as a fuel source for heavy industry
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