Company Profile: Koloma — Unlocking Earth’s Hidden Hydrogen to Fuel the Future

Koloma, a clean energy technology company based in Denver and founded in 2021, is quietly transforming how the world thinks about hydrogen. While most hydrogen today is produced using methods that are either carbon-intensive or resource-hungry—like steam methane reforming and electrolysis—Koloma is doing something radically different. The company is tapping into hydrogen that occurs naturally underground, created through geological processes that have taken place for millions of years. By developing proprietary tools to identify and extract this natural hydrogen, Koloma is building a new pathway to clean, scalable energy that doesn’t rely on fossil fuels or massive electricity inputs.

What makes Koloma’s approach so significant is that it bypasses many of the problems that have historically held hydrogen back. Steam methane reforming produces nearly 10 kilograms of CO₂ for every kilogram of hydrogen, while electrolysis requires vast amounts of water and renewable power—both of which come at a cost, financially and environmentally. Koloma’s method, by contrast, requires only modest energy for drilling and compression, uses virtually no water, and emits almost no carbon. It’s a cleaner, more efficient process rooted in natural science.

The company’s work is attracting serious attention. With more than $400 million in backing from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and United Airlines, Koloma has the financial support to explore and develop this promising field. Their focus is currently on the Midcontinent Rift system in the U.S. Midwest, a region rich in the iron-heavy rock formations that generate natural hydrogen through processes like serpentinization and radiolysis. Using AI to analyze seismic data, satellite imagery, and geochemical information, Koloma is narrowing the search for viable hydrogen reservoirs and making the economics of exploration far more favorable than traditional trial-and-error methods.

The practical implications of Koloma’s work are far-reaching. Clean hydrogen is essential for decarbonizing heavy industry, long-haul transportation, aviation, and fertilizer production. With natural hydrogen, Koloma could meet this growing demand without the environmental compromises of other production methods. Their approach also opens the door to clean energy development in regions where solar or wind may not be viable, but where the geology is right.

And the potential is massive. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, there could be trillions of tons of hydrogen trapped in the Earth’s crust—more than enough to reshape the global energy system. Koloma is positioning itself at the forefront of this opportunity. If it can move from successful exploration to sustained, commercial-scale production, it won’t just add to the hydrogen economy—it could redefine it entirely.

With favorable policy support, such as tax incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act, and growing industrial demand, Koloma’s timing couldn’t be better.

What’s at stake is more than just a new form of energy. Koloma is proving that the Earth itself can offer us a clean, continuous source of hydrogen—one that could power the future without wrecking the present. If successful, this isn’t just innovation. It’s reinvention.

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