The clean energy transition has a new map, and it points straight down. For decades, the hydrogen economy has been a story of industrial plants and electrolyzers, of manufacturing a gas rather than finding it. A small but growing cadre of geologists, however, is betting that the cheapest, cleanest hydrogen is already down there, waiting to be discovered in natural reservoirs. HyReveal, a French deeptech startup founded last year, is building the toolkit for that hunt, selling integrated hardware and software to map what it calls the planet’s subsurface hydrogen system [hyreveal.com].
The man who drilled the first well
The company’s credibility is tied directly to its co-founder and CEO, Dr. Viacheslav Zgonnik. Before HyReveal, Zgonnik founded and ran Natural Hydrogen Energy LLC (NH2E), a Denver-based venture that drilled what is widely reported as the first dedicated deep well for natural hydrogen in Nebraska [Reuters, 2023]. He has been a vocal evangelist for the category, delivering keynotes at industry conferences like HNat 2022 [YouTube HNat, 2022]. This isn’t theoretical advocacy; it’s field work. That background gives HyReveal an immediate wedge into a nascent market where trust is built on geologic scars, not just software demos. The other co-founder, Jonathan Allard, serves as managing director, handling commercial operations from their base in Rueil-Malmaison, France.
| Founder | Role | Key Background |
|---|---|---|
| Dr. Viacheslav Zgonnik | Co-Founder & CEO | Founded & was CEO of Natural Hydrogen Energy LLC (NH2E); drilled first deep hydrogen well [Reuters, 2023]. |
| Jonathan Allard | Co-Founder & Managing Director | Key commercial contact; rated 4.8/5 by prospecting platforms [Prospeo.io]. |
Selling shovels in a gold rush
HyReveal’s business model is classic picks-and-shovels. Instead of staking claims and drilling itself, it provides the data acquisition and analytics platform for the energy companies and mineral explorers doing the drilling. Its platform promises to handle the workflow from field sensors to predictive models, specializing in detecting hydrogen and associated gases like helium [hyreveal.com]. The early signal for this approach came in 2025, when the company signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with Getech, a world-leading subsurface resource locator. The partnership aims to combine Getech’s geospatial data with HyReveal’s hydrogen-specific expertise to de-risk exploration projects [Getech.com, ~2025]. For a startup with no disclosed funding rounds, an MoU with an established player like Getech is a tangible traction signal.
The counter-bet: is it really there?
The entire venture rests on two premises: that commercially viable reservoirs of natural hydrogen exist, and that they can be found with better data. The first premise is gaining believers, fueled by discoveries in France, the United States, and elsewhere that have sparked a global land grab for hydrogen exploration rights [Reuters, 2023]. The second is HyReveal’s domain. The risk isn’t that the science is wrong, but that the market matures too slowly or consolidates around a few major oil and gas players who develop in-house capabilities. HyReveal must move quickly to establish its platform as the industry standard before integrated energy giants decide to build their own. Its early moves,the Getech partnership, selection for the STATION F Future 40 cohort, and a project funded under France’s national France 2030 plan,are all aimed at cementing that position [hec.edu, ~2025] [hyreveal.com].
What to watch in the next twelve months
The coming year will be about converting early momentum into commercial contracts and, likely, a first institutional funding round. The company claims an estimated $513,000 in annual revenue, though the source and structure of that income are unclear [Prospeo.io]. The key metrics to track are:
- First named customers. An MoU is a handshake; a paid deployment with a disclosed energy explorer is proof of product-market fit.
- Funding inflection. Operating on grants and founder capital can only scale so far. A seed round would signal investor conviction in the exploration timeline.
- Technology validation. Peer-reviewed case studies or data showing their platform improved discovery odds would be a powerful tool for sales.
On paper, the unit economics of finding natural hydrogen are compelling. If a traditional green hydrogen plant costs billions and uses gigawatts of renewable power, a natural reservoir is essentially a pre-charged battery. The back-of-the-envelope calculation is simple: if HyReveal’s data can shave even a few percentage points off the multi-million-dollar cost of a dry well, its service fee becomes a rounding error on a successful project’s lifetime value. The company isn’t just selling software; it’s selling a reduction in geologic uncertainty. To win, it must become the Schlumberger for hydrogen,the first name an exploration manager thinks of when they need to know what’s under their feet.
Sources
- [hyreveal.com] HyReveal - The Reference Solution For Subsurface Hydrogen Exploration and Monitoring | https://hyreveal.com/
- [Reuters, 2023] Startups race to strike hydrogen gold | https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/startups-race-strike-hydrogen-gold-2023-09-07/
- [YouTube HNat, 2022] HNat 2022 Keynote presentation about deep-seated (primordial) hydrogen by Viacheslav Zgonnik | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwNqTSEComM
- [Prospeo.io] HyReveal Company Profile | https://prospeo.io/c/hyreveal-revenue
- [Getech.com, ~2025] Getech and HyReveal Sign Strategic MoU to Accelerate the Global Development of Natural Hydrogen Exploration | https://getech.com/news/getech-and-hyreveal-sign-strategic-mou-to-accelerate-the-global-development-of-natural-hydrogen-exploration/
- [hec.edu, ~2025] STATION F 2025 Future 40 cohort announcement | https://hec.edu
- [NYT, 2023] Opinion | A Gold Mine of Clean Energy May Be Hiding Under Our Feet | https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/27/opinion/hydrogen-natural-climate-change.html