Holm, CFO of green steel startup Stegra, has been appointed to the position in order to raise additional funds
Swedish green steel startup Stegra announced on Monday that it had appointed Markus Holm to the position of chief financial officer. The company is scrambling?to raise additional cash in order to complete its hydrogen-based'steel plant' in northern Sweden.
In Europe, many green steel projects are being delayed or have run into problems because the technology is still new and the investment costs are high. Stegra originally planned to open the plant in this year but will now do so by 2027.
Stegra announced in October that it is seeking additional financing of $1.1 billion. Stegra said in January that it expected to complete its financing talks by the end of the first quarter.
A spokesperson for the company said that Stegra is still working on this problem.
The spokesperson said: "As announced earlier, Q1 is needed to complete the funding round."
Holm will start on March 1, said Stegra. Holm was most recently CFO and member of the board at Estonian green energy technology startup Elcogen Group.
SWEDEN'S TRANSITION TO A GREEN INDUSTRIAL SYSTEM: SETBACKS
Stegra is just one of many projects that support Sweden's ambitions to be a leader for Europe's green industrial transformation, supported by low-cost and carbon-free electricity. These efforts have been hampered by setbacks including the bankruptcy of Northvolt, a battery manufacturer.
The Financial Times reported in October that 'people familiar with Stegra's finances said the risk of bankruptcy had been discussed at a Stegra Board meeting.
Stegra said at the time that it did not recognise what it called "a one-sided?picture". Henrik Henriksson, the CEO of Stegra in November, said that Stegra wasn't?in crisis.
In October, the startup, formerly known as H2 Green Steel said that it had advanced talks about outsourcing certain operations.
Stegra announced on Thursday that Otto Gernandt - its CFO of the last five years - would be a senior adviser, focusing primarily on funding initiatives.
(source: Reuters)
