Bristol-headquartered independent UK law firm Burges Salmon’s corporate team has advised on a seed funding deal that will enable a nanotech start-up to scale-up its green ammonia technologies.
Nium will use the $3m (£2.34m) investment to assembling its first small-scale, modular, low energy consumption ammonia reactors. 
Known as ‘minions’, these reactors contain Nium’s patent-pending catalyst, which produce ammonia at a fraction of the price and pollution of traditional methods.
Ammonia is critical to humanity, but the challenge is in its production. Some 96% of ammonia is made using the Haber-Bosch method, the most polluting chemical industrial production process on the planet.
Harwell, Oxfordshire-based Nium aims to solve this problem. The low pressure and low temperature conditions of its system allows for onsite synthesis of ammonia – without emissions – powered by renewable energy.
Nium’s ‘green ammonia on demand’ system also offers a cost-effective storage and transport vector for hydrogen players while unlocking access to growing markets for green ammonia as a clean energy carrier, clean fertiliser feedstock and zero carbon fuel.
The funding round was led by global agri-food-tech venture capital investor AgFunder joined by DCVC, one of the world’s foremost deeptech investors. 
The Silicon Valley funds join existing pre-seed investors in the UK and Europe, including Carbon13, in supporting Nium in its next phase of growth.
Burges Salmon said its support for Nium was another example of the firm’s commitment to high-growth businesses through its BScale platform.
The platform supports businesses through knowledge sharing while providing free legal documentation through a document generator.
This means early-stage businesses can access high-quality legal advice at a price point that is realistic. It also enables Burges Salmon to build lasting and strategic relationships with the most exciting and innovative technology companies and their investors.
The Burges Salmon team advising Nium included corporate team members partner Alex Lloyd, pictured, and associate Niall Mackle.
Nium CEO and co-founder Lewis Jenkins said: “This fundraising marks another significant milestone in the Nium journey and we are very grateful to Alex, Niall and the Burges Salmon team for their expert advice and support which has enabled us to continue to grow and will make a big difference to helping us accomplish our mission.”
Alex Lloyd added: “What Lewis and the team at Nium have developed through nanotechnology is quite extraordinary.
“This funding will enable Nium to continue in its all-important production of green ammonia technologies and we are very proud to have played our part in helping progress this critical work.”
Nium was founded in 2022 in Cambridge by an entrepreneur, a nanoscientist and a former race car engineer.
The three met during Carbon13’s venture builder for the climate emergency, forming Nium around a common goal of eliminating emissions at scale.
