CleanTech PR startup case study: From UCL to net zero leader

A CleanTech startup came to us as an ambitious spin-out from University College London with breakthrough technology, a small but determined team, and a vision for hydrogen that the world hadn’t fully caught up with yet.

Background

The startup was a hydrogen fuel cell manufacturer: its mission was not to replace batteries or engines, but to become a crucial piece of the net-zero jigsaw puzzle. One of their favourite examples said it all: the traffic lights you see at roadworks, quietly running on a diesel generator that needs refuelling every few days. The startup’s fuel cell could replace that diesel engine. It could sit there for up to 30 days. No refills. Less noise. Less pollution.

From a cost and resource perspective, it worked. The problem was not the idea. The problem was validation, perception and timing. The UK has never built the infrastructure to support widespread hydrogen adoption because its reputation has been shaped by outdated narratives and a lack of real-world deployment.

The brief

When the startup first approached Luminous, they were a relatively new business with around £5m in funding and big ambitions. They were gearing up for their next investment round – Series B – but had done almost no marketing.

They faced two core problems.

First, they had no validation. They could say their hydrogen fuel cell could do this and could do that, but they had no proof to show investors or partners. No real-world examples, no third-party case studies and no independent voices.

Second, hydrogen had a bad reputation. They were up against years of “hydrogen is dangerous” narratives, fuelled by the Hindenburg disaster. In reality, the risk profile was far more nuanced. But perception is powerful.

The startup needed to:

• Grow brand awareness in a crowded climate-tech space
• Build presence in front of stakeholders, investors and partners
• Debunk myths about hydrogen and position it as part of the net-zero solution
• Articulate a complex, patented solution in a way that felt relatable and real.

Our approach

Step one: building the startup story

We started with a straightforward press office retainer. The goal was simple: establish the startup in the market as one with a mission, not just a lab project. We worked closely with two of the three founders – the deeply technical academic CEO and the commercial founder. 

For the first 12 months, we focused almost entirely on profile-building:

• Thought leadership interviews in startup and entrepreneurial publications
• Features in titles like Startup Magazine, Sifted and similar outlets
• Stories about their journey as founders, not just their tech.

We framed them as entrepreneurs with ‘a mission to reach net zero’. That line became an informal tagline for a while.

The tone was deliberate. Relatable, not remote. We wanted other founders, investors and future partners to see themselves in the startups story – a small team taking on a big problem.

It was a steady drumbeat. No flashy campaigns. Just consistent, credible visibility.

Step two: turning a funding moment into momentum

As the business grew, they began gearing up for a £35m Series B raise.

In practical terms, it meant going from a three-man founding team to a team of around 70. It meant investors with serious expectations. And it meant that PR could no longer just be a trickle of founder features. The startup had to show the world what they were capable of.

We handled the funding announcement as a flagship moment. With a raise of that size, you can unlock serious top-tier media interest. The story was not just “startup raises money” but:

• What does the raise mean for the wider CleanTech sector?
• What does it signal about hydrogen’s role in net zero?
• Why are heavy-hitting investors backing this specific approach?
  

The coverage did what it needed to do. After that announcement, things took off. Journalists who might not have looked twice before started to proactively engage with us. We even secured an opportunity for the team to appear on Sky which is exactly the kind of platform that signals “you’ve arrived” to investors and partners.

Step three: finding real-world stories in construction

Once the funding news landed, the question became: What next? How do you keep up momentum?

We looked at net zero from multiple angles – smart cities, construction, sectors where proof of concept would really matter. The startup had a product in development aimed at the construction industry. The concept was strong: hydrogen fuel cells powering temporary and off-grid infrastructure rather than diesel. So we made construction our first sector focus.

To get started, we ran a survey. We asked the construction sector how prepared it was for net zero by 2030. The data showed something stark: the sector was not ready. 

That insight gave us headlines for:

• Construction trade press
• Engineering publications
• Business and sustainability titles.

From there, we built a white paper. It featured quotes from industry leaders and potential partners the startup wanted to work with. The process itself became a door-opener and worked on two levels:

• As a brand awareness tool, showcasing the startup’s insight and leadership.
• As a commercial tool, underpinning the sales pitch with timely, relevant data.
  

We secured a steady stream of thought leadership pieces for the construction sector. Engineering and construction publications, such as Engineering Magazine, not only ran the data-led story but follow-up opinion pieces. There were podcast slots too.

Critically, we helped the startup understand how to reuse all of this. Not just “we got you coverage”, but “here is how to take this into your sales meetings”. Even when the meetings were cold, the business had something valuable to bring to the table.

Step four: widening the frame – from hydrogen to CleanTech

After the Series B, the story needed to shift again. They were a fast-growing CleanTech company with serious backing. They had heavy investors, a bigger team and a different level of scrutiny. They wanted to build on that success. 

We worked with them to move the narrative from “hydrogen fuel cell manufacturer” to “CleanTech company” because they realised “hydrogen” could pigeonhole them.

The message evolved:

• Hydrogen is not the sole answer to net zero
• Hydrogen is part of the bigger picture
• The startup focused on the wider clean tech challenge, not just a single component.
  

We worked hard to bring them into national conversations around net zero, COP29, COP30 and wider climate policy. Like many fast-growing scaleups, their external voice was developing alongside the business itself, which meant some moments took longer to land. Even so, the strategic aim remained consistent: to elevate them as leaders shaping the CleanTech agenda.

Throughout this period, profile-building remained at the centre of what we did. In the last 12 months of working together, we shifted our focus more heavily onto the commercial officer.

He was the one in the pitch meetings. The one investors would be Googling. The one who needed to look and feel like a recognisable, credible figure in the CleanTech space. So we prioritised his visibility – interviews, commentary, bylined pieces – to make sure the due diligence trail told the right story.

The results

Over the four years we worked with the startup, the shift was clear.

They grew from a relatively unknown UCL startup, with no marketing, to a CleanTech brand that journalists recognised, investors researched and sector partners took seriously.

Our work:

• Built steady, long-term founder profiles in startup and business media
• Turned a £35m Series B into a moment of real momentum, unlocking top-tier and broadcast opportunities
• Used data from a construction survey to tell a powerful story about an industry not ready for net zero
• Created a white paper that doubled as both thought leadership and a practical sales tool
• Opened doors in construction and engineering media with a stream of sector-specific thought leadership
• Helped the commercial team use PR assets in real-world pitches and cold outreach.

Internally, PR helped them navigate the communication challenges that comes with fast-scale growth. As they moved from £5m to £35m and from three people to 70, the story kept pace. We did not change the tech. We changed how people understood it.

PR did not solve every challenge. It could not fix infrastructure gaps or market headwinds. But it did:

• Help to articulate a complex, patented solution in a way that felt human and useful
• Help to debunk some of the fear and mythology around hydrogen
• Help the startup talk to sectors like construction and automotive before there were perfect case studies to show
• Help them look and sound like the kind of company investors and partners could trust with a £35m bet.

From a steady stream of startup stories to data-led sector campaigns, from founder profiles to a national broadcast slot, the CleanTech startup’s’s communications grew up alongside the company itself. And for a time, they had exactly what they came to us for: a credible voice in the race to net zero and a story that did justice to the ambition behind the tech.

Are you looking for help with PR & media relations strategy? Get in touch.

By Amanda Bunn

Amanda is a strategic communications leader with over two decades’ of experience delivering award-winning PR campaigns for global consumer brands to helping ambitious startups build brand awareness, authority and momentum.

Meet Amanda