Cleantech startup Serenity Power announced today it has closed a $1.16-million CAD pre-seed funding round to validate its remote power technology and expand its employee base.
Operating out of both Calgary and Toronto, Serenity Power develops solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) that replace diesel and conventional combustion engine generators with lower-emission power. Serenity’s SOFCs can run on natural gas, hydrogen, methane, or blended fuels, offering a lower price point and greater fuel diversity than many hydrogen-exclusive fuel cells.
Aleisha Cerny,
“Being able to actually complete this round, and have the right investors who still believe in the technology and the business case … means so much.”
Serenity Power
Investment was oversubscribed and led by Avatar Ventures, with CFO Bryan Trudel joining Serenity’s board of directors. Other participants included Antimo, RPV, Front Row Ventures, The Firehood, Rep Matters, and an undisclosed, Toronto-based climate tech VC.
That $1.16 million in pre-seed capital comes on the heels of $900,000 CAD in non-dilutive funding Serenity previously secured, with $300,000 of that coming from Alberta Innovates, $230,000 from the Natural Gas Innovation Fund, and the remainder contributed by Innovate Calgary, Mitacs, and the Innovation Asset Collective.
Co-founder and CEO Aleisha Cerny said the proceeds will be used to accelerate development of Serenity’s first working prototype, advance systems engineering, and execute field demonstrations with industry partners.
“We have demonstrated our innovations on the lab scale … and now we’re building the first commercial fuel cells,” Cerny told BetaKit. “The future of development looks like building bigger fuel cells, building the company’s first stack, and then building out the system around that.”
Serenity has partnered with Calgary’s Exergy Solutions to assist in developing that system, with hopes to roll it out this summer and start pilot projects for clients in Italy, and another in Alberta this fall.
“They’re doing the designs and procurement, and we’ll be doing the lab tests on the system level. Once that’s done, hopefully around July, then we’re converting that into a production unit for our customer in Italy, and replicating that for a customer in Alberta.”
Serenity also plans to use some funding to expand its employee base, with a CTO hire currently in negotiation and plans to onboard several research assistants in the works.
With the ink still drying from this raise, Cerny said Serenity has no intentions of slowing down. She told BetaKit the company is planning a seed round poised to take place in the first quarter of next year with a goal of raising $5 million toward further scaling system design and accelerating customer order fulfillment.
For Cerny and the folks at Serenity, the finalization of this pre-seed funding shows a willingness to invest in cleantech at a time when much of the conversation around climate change and the need for clean energy has seemingly stalled on the world stage.
“When we kicked off initially, in January of 2025, because of the political environment, a lot of climate tech investors had mass layoffs and were holding their money to their chest, so it was really challenging,” Cerny said. “Being able to actually complete this round, and have the right investors who still believe in the technology and the business case … means so much.”
BetaKit’s Prairies reporting is funded in part by YEGAF, a not-for-profit dedicated to amplifying business stories in Alberta.
Feature image courtesy Serenity Power.