Cortado Ventures has led a $1.8 million seed round in Oklahoma City-based Tobe Energy, which is developing a next-generation electrolysis system for green hydrogen. The company’s technology achieves 94.7% efficiency, reduces operating costs by more than 50%, and uses readily available U.S. stainless steel to enable scalable, low-cost domestic production.

Additional investors include 46 VC (via its Scissortail and Hurricane funds), Techstars, Wavefunction VC, and a group of angel investors. The funding will help Tobe Energy accelerate market adoption and scale its zero-emission hydrogen systems.

Tobe’s prototype electrolyser, already logged with over 1,000 hours of runtime, cuts capital costs by around 75% compared to conventional systems. Applications range from steel and fertiliser production to synthetic fuels, with projections suggesting the company’s hydrogen could be cheaper than fossil fuels by 2027 when combined with U.S. federal tax credits.

The system also shows promise for energy storage, particularly for AI data centres, by generating hydrogen during off-peak periods and converting it back to power as a zero-emission alternative to lithium-ion batteries.

Tobe Energy has signed a memorandum of understanding with Zeeco to develop its first pilot plant at Zeeco’s Advanced Research Complex in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.