Octopus Ventures, the private company investment arm of small cap fund management business, is backing a start-up using sailing vessels to generate clean energy at sea.
DRIFT Energy will announce this week that it has secured close to £5m of new backing from Octopus Ventures and water environmental group Blue Action Accelerator, Sky News reported.
Money from the funding round will launch a fleet of high-performance sailing vessels that harness deep ocean wind to produce green hydrogen at sea.
Marketing will target coastal and island communities at first.
Ben Medland, DRIFT founder and chief executive, said: "Alongside the support from Blue Action Accelerator, this funding [from Octopus Ventures] enables us to drive with momentum into the next phase of our mission."
Mat Munro, an investor at Octopus Ventures, added: "We're incredibly excited about DRIFT and the team's potential to lead the way in developing a truly innovative source of renewable energy."