N2 Applied and the EIC Accelerator: Bankrupt, Then a New Company

Synthetic nitrogen fertiliser is made from ammonia, which is made mostly from natural gas. N2 Applied, a Norwegian company founded in 2010, set out to do it differently: a unit on the farm that uses electricity and plasma to fix nitrogen from the air into livestock manure, producing a richer fertiliser and cutting ammonia emissions from the slurry. The EIC Fund's portfolio page still describes it that way.

At the June 2021 cut-off, the European Innovation Council selected N2 Applied for an equity-only award to scale up its SmartNitroFarm system. On 26 March 2025, according to the Norwegian company register, N2 Applied AS was declared bankrupt. The N2 Applied name lives on: its website now belongs to N2 Plasma Tech AS, a company registered eight weeks before the bankruptcy and led by the same chief executive; Finansavisen reported that investors were buying the business out of the estate, and the register does not show whether this company is the buyer. It sells a different product, calcium nitrate fertiliser made at an industrial site.

What Happened to N2 Applied

The Brønnøysund Register Centre lists N2 Applied AS as bankrupt, with a bankruptcy date of 26 March 2025, and a separate bankruptcy estate registered the same day. Its last filed accounts, for 2023, show operating revenue of NOK 31.5 million, a net loss of NOK 48.8 million and negative equity of NOK 18.0 million.

The N2 Applied website's privacy policy now names N2 Plasma Tech AS as the company behind the brand. The register shows N2 Plasma Tech was founded on 31 January 2025, with Carl Gunnar Hansson, N2 Applied's chief executive, as its chief executive, and several board members in common. In its first year it had revenue of NOK 5.9 million, a net loss of NOK 18.8 million, positive equity of NOK 31.3 million and 29 employees. At the bankruptcy, Bondebladet reported total debts of almost NOK 130 million and 53 employees, and quoted the company as saying it had not managed "to secure long-term financing". In April 2025 Finansavisen reported that investors Frode Strand-Nielsen and Jens Ulltveit-Moe were buying the business out of the estate. The register does not show whether N2 Plasma Tech is the buying company.

The Technology: Lightning in a Box

Plasma nitrogen fixation uses electricity to split nitrogen and oxygen in air, forming nitrogen oxides that can be absorbed into water or manure as nitrate. It revives an early 20th-century Norwegian process that fell out of use once gas-based ammonia became cheap. N2 Applied's original pitch put a container-sized unit on a livestock farm. The new company's website describes a broader aim, converting "air, water and electricity into nitrate" at "any site, any scale", for fertiliser, mining explosives and industrial chemistry. In April 2026 it wrote that liquid calcium nitrate from its technology centre in Svene was being used by a Norwegian cucumber grower as a full replacement for conventional nitrogen fertiliser.

What the EIC Award Was, and What the Record Shows

The equity award followed an EIC grant. In the May 2020 Green Deal cut-off of the Horizon 2020 EIC Accelerator pilot, N2 Applied was selected for a grant only for SmartNitroFarm, "local fertiliser production by plasma treatment", according to the European Commission's list of selected companies. The project ran from December 2020 to November 2022 with an EU contribution of €2,499,999 towards a total cost of €3,895,000; its final report says N2 Applied assembled, installed and operated six pilot units on farms in different markets, then assembled a first commercial unit and launched it at the EuroTier trade fair in Hanover, according to CORDIS. At EuroTier in November 2022, GEA announced a long-term exclusive partnership to manufacture the container-sized units and sell them worldwide, according to GEA.

The award, "SmartNitroFarm Scale-up: renewable fertiliser from air", was equity only, so there is no CORDIS project or report. N2 Applied appears in the EIC Fund portfolio; neither the EIC nor the company has published the amount or date of the investment. The farm-scale product the award described does not appear on the brand's current website.

1. Scale-up of the on-farm systemNot achievedFarm units no longer offered; company bankrupt.
2. EIC equity investedListedIn the EIC Fund portfolio; terms not published.
3. A going concernFailedBankruptcy on 26 March 2025.
4. Plasma-made fertiliser still soldYesN2 Plasma Tech sells plasma-made calcium nitrate.

From the Award to Bankruptcy

The Money

N2 Applied's accounts show a company losing far more than it sold: in 2023, a loss of NOK 48.8 million on revenue of NOK 31.5 million. The new company's equity of NOK 31.3 million at the end of 2025 means it raised fresh capital. Who provided it, and whether the EIC Fund's stake in the old company carried over, is not public.

Why Europe Should Care

N2 Applied offered farms a way to make nitrate fertiliser from air, manure and electricity instead of buying it. Its story shows both how attractive that idea is to public investors and how hard it is to make it pay.

The Verdict

N2 Applied has not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records, company statements and EU publications, linked throughout.