The US hydrogen fuel cell Bloom Energy is listed as a "unicorn"

On July 25, Bloom Energy, a US fuel cell unicorn company, officially landed on the New York Stock Exchange with the stock code "BE". On the first day of listing, Bloom Energy's share price rose 66.67 %, closing at $25, and the market value of the first public trading day reached $2.65 billion.

According to data, Bloom Energy was established in 2001 as a new clean energy innovation company in the United States. It mainly develops solid oxide fuel cells and uses natural gas and biogas as fuel. The founders 'team was invited by the NASA to study and manufacture life support technologies that can be carried out on Mars and establish devices that can generate air and fuel from electricity, or generate electricity from air and fuel.

In terms of products, Bloom Energy fuel cell is a new type of power system that can be expected to replace solar energy. It is fed into BloomBox through oxygen and natural gas and undergoes high-temperature chemical reactions in fuel cells to generate electricity, heat, carbon dioxide and water. It is a pollution-free power system.

Bloom Energy's new energy server5 is said to achieve 65 % performance, with twice the power density of previous models and an average life expectancy of more than five years, the highest level in the industry.

On the market side, Bloom Energy has deployed most of its fuel cells in California. The state's spontaneous incentive program has helped cover most of the upfront costs of fuel cells as well as batteries, thermal storage energy, and other distributed energy resources.

In 2016, Apple installed 24 "Bloom Energy Server" in its data center in North Carolina, and continued to equip another 26 fuel cells six months later to bring the total capacity to 1000wanwate.

In August 2017, Bloom Energy announced a 37-megawatt deal with data center operator Equinix, making it the largest fuel cell deployment project in the United States to date.

According to IPO documents, as of March 31, 2018, Bloom Energy's customer base includes 25 of the top 100 companies in wealth, such as AT& T, Home Depot and so on.

In terms of capital, since its establishment in 2001, the company has also been invested by well-known institutions including KPCB, NEA, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse Group, Morgan Stanley, GSV Capital, Apex, Mobius, Madrone Capital and SunBridpartners.

Although products, markets, capital, and policies are good, due to cost reasons, the company is still in a state of loss. According to public data, Bloom Energy achieved revenue of 169 million U.S. dollars and lost 177 million U.S. dollars in the first quarter of 2018; 2017 revenue of 376 million U.S. dollars, a loss of 263 million U.S. dollars; In 2016, revenue was 209 million U.S. dollars and a loss of 280 million U.S. dollars.

However, in the first quarter of this year, Bloom Energy showed strong growth momentum. Bloom Energy sold 622 100-kilowatt fuel cell systems in 2017, down from 687 last year, but sold 166 sets in the first quarter of 2018, up 39.5 % from a year earlier.

At the same time, its costs are also declining. According to the report, the company's fuel cell cost has dropped from US$ 5,086 / KWh in the first quarter of 2016 to US$ 3,855 / KWh in the first quarter of 2018; The installation cost also dropped from $1,280 per KWh in the same period to $526 per kilowatt.

K.R. Sridhar, chief executive and founder of Bloom Energy, said in an interview that the company will achieve GAAP profit this year, with positive cash flow and "sustainable development."

Although the technology and growth prospects of Unicorn Bloom Energy are promising, it is considered a high-risk investment because it still relies heavily on subsidies.

Market analysts say Bloom Energy's decision to go public immediately came after it received a continuation of its federal tax credit for fuel cells in February. Previously, the company's revenue fell sharply in 2015 because the tax incentives for fuel cells were not widely re-authorized in 2015.

The recently restored tax credit for investment in fuel cells may fade over time. The company also said in its risk note that the company's business is still affected by tax rebates, tax credits and other financial incentives, and that if the government's economic stimulus is reduced, modified or eliminated, it may lead to a decline in company revenue.

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