John Hinkey knew there was a risk to doing contract work for startups — sometimes their finances go south and his mechanical design firm might go unpaid. But Modern Hydrogen felt like a safe bet. The company had public support from Bill Gates, raised $125 million from investors, and was on the cusp of shipping a commercial device to produce hydrogen fuel.
Then, at the end of October, Hinkey — owner of Geminus Technology Development — and other contractors received notifications from Modern Hydrogen abruptly terminating their contracts, citing “general policy and economic conditions.”
Now four contractors have filed a joint lawsuit, while another has filed separately, claiming the Seattle-area clean energy company hasn’t paid their final invoices. The suits allege Modern Hydrogen owes a combined $363,458 plus interest and attorneys’ fees.
“I would warn all other small entities,” said Hinkey, that just because someone like Bill Gates is backing a company, if the project stops “that doesn’t mean that they’re going to pay their bills.”
Modern Hydrogen’s downturn coincided with Gates pulling back from his climate efforts — paring down his Breakthrough Energy initiative and posting a memo just days before the contracts were terminated in which he further signaled a shift in priorities. “Although climate change will have serious consequences… it will not lead to humanity’s demise,” Gates wrote.
Steven Brncic, a plaintiff in the joint suit, took note of Gates’ shift on climate at the time.
“I remember thinking, ‘oh, you know what we’re doing is basically alternative energy,’” Brncic recalled. When the cancellation notifications came, he wondered about the connection.
Neither Modern Hydrogen co-founder and CEO Tony Pan nor Gates responded to GeekWire’s requests for comment.
It’s unclear what role if any Gates may have played in Modern Hydrogen’s sudden slowdown. The company launched in 2015 at Intellectual Ventures, an innovation hub created by former Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold with Gates’ backing. The Microsoft co-founder backed the startup through Gates Frontier, his private investment arm, but was not a board member or advisor with the company.
A promising pivot, then silence
The startup initially focused on generating electricity from heat recovered from appliances. It pivoted three years ago to splitting natural gas to produce hydrogen fuel and solid carbon, which has industrial uses including as an asphalt additive.
Gates visited the company’s Woodinville, Wash., facility in 2024, grabbing a wheelbarrow and shovel to fill a parking lot pothole with carbon-infused asphalt.
When Modern Hydrogen halted its normal operations last year, it was nearing completion of its first commercial unit for a Texas customer, having already finished pilot projects with utilities in Portland and Miami.
Hours before learning his contract was canceled, Brncic had been assigned more work on the project. The change “was very, very abrupt,” he said.
Modern Hydrogen has not said if it is permanently closing. It laid off most of its employees by early December.
Small firms, big exposure
Hinkey founded his Seattle firm more than two decades ago and worked on Modern Hydrogen projects over the course of a year. One of his three employees had been assisting with the mechanical design and thermal analysis of the company’s reactor vessel, collaborating closely with their team several times a week.
Geminus is part of the joint lawsuit filed in King County Superior Court, with a claim of $81,500.
“That’s potentially a going-out-of-business deal,” Hinkey said. “That’s how bad that hurts.”
Brncic Engineering says it is owed $18,000 — the largest sum the Missouri-based firm has lost in 15 years of operations. Two additional contractors in the joint suit claim smaller losses. A separate suit was filed by D&D Welding of Mukilteo, Wash., which claims it’s owed $244,992 for building structural metal frames.
Hinkey sometimes requires new or early-stage clients to pay 50% upfront — but Modern Hydrogen, with its significant funding and roughly 80 employees, could dictate its own terms, he said.
“If you get too pushy on these contracts, they don’t hire you,” Brncic added. “They go to the next guy.”
A thank-you note, then a legal fight
On Oct. 30, one of Hinkey’s employees received an email from Amir Moftakhar, Modern Hydrogen’s chief financial officer, saying the contract was over.
“This decision is part of a broader restructuring effort which is being developed and does not reflect on your work,” Moftakhar said. “We want to sincerely thank you for the professionalism, dedication, and quality you’ve shown throughout our collaboration and for your understanding.”
Modern Hydrogen’s attorneys struck a different tone in an initial response to the joint lawsuit. “Plaintiffs failed to perform and complete all work and services contemplated under the Agreements to Defendant’s satisfaction,” said the court document. A trial is set for February 2027.
Hinkey dismisses the idea his firm didn’t finish its work.
“We absolutely did,” he said, “up until you told us to stop.”
