A sea change in sustainable magnesium production

The job of deep tech venture capitalists is to fund early-stage companies that are solving extremely hard problems, in very large markets, with break­throughs that have attractive techno-economics. And these companies need truly driven leaders.

Tidal Metals caught our interest because it’s solving a hard problem in a large market that we wanted to see solved. Magnesium is the lightest of the structural metals (lighter than steel, aluminum, or titanium) and is widely used from automotive and aerospace manu­fac­turing to defense and electronics. Given its unique properties, it is essential for light­weighting electrified mobility and trans­porta­tion solutions, which are burdened with heavy batteries. Replacing just a fraction of the steel in cars and trucks with magnesium could reduce carbon emissions by 1 gigaton or more over a 10-to-15-year period.

But today 90% of global magnesium supply comes from China, where it is terres­tri­ally mined and then refined using envi­ron­men­tally destructive and energy-intensive processes, making magnesium the most carbon-intensive structural metal. This concen­tra­tion of Chinese supply, coupled with magnesium’s high carbon footprint, underscores the urgent need for a low-cost, sustainable alternative.

Our world’s oceans contain an essentially limitless supply of magnesium, and while others have tried to extract magnesium from seawater, the technology has not been available to do so safely and econom­i­cally. Tidal Metals has solved this problem with its break­through technology that harvests magnesium from ocean waters and a wide array of terrestrial brines in a carbon-neutral and envi­ron­men­tally harmless way, and funda­men­tally changes the techno-economics of magnesium supply. The Tidal Metals solution will eliminate the need for traditional magnesium ore mining and the harmful, carbon-intensive processes for refining magnesium metal, and deliver lower cost magnesium in the process. This is a wonderful example of deep tech supplanting old, non-sustainable processes.

We believe so strongly in Tidal Metals’ potential that we are proud to announce our lead role in the company’s $8.5 million Series Seed funding round (see TechCrunch coverage here). This investment will support the commer­cial­iza­tion of Tidal Metals’ ground­breaking technology and accelerate its mission to revo­lu­tionize the magnesium industry. While harvesting magnesium from seawater is the focus, the company’s core technology has appli­ca­tions in energy, water, and other critical minerals, which the company will pursue over time. 

The Tidal Metals story began at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, where three brilliant scientists – Howard Yuh, Ethan Schartman, and Kevin Tritz – met while working on applied research in fusion energy. With PhDs in nuclear engineering, plasma physics, and engineering physics, the trio bonded over a shared passion for deep tech innovation and a desire to invent next-generation tech­nolo­gies. It was Yuh, with his background in materials science and plasma physics from MIT, who first conceived of Tidal Metals’ foun­da­tional technology. Applying his expertise in fusion reactor performance opti­miza­tion, he developed a ground­breaking temperature swing absorption process, the most energy-efficient fractional crys­tal­liza­tion technology in the world, the essential technology to the economical harvesting of magnesium from ocean waters and brines. For us, it was clear that the team was smart, low-ego, and had a prodigious work ethic, giving us confidence in their ability to execute on this transformative opportunity.

Developing a revo­lu­tionary technology is only half the battle; bringing it to market requires the addition of an entirely different set of skills. Enter Duncan O’Brien, Tidal Metals’ Chief Strategy Officer and CFO. Duncan has had a storied career in business leadership, M&A and Private Equity at Goldman Sachs, GE, and Cox Enterprises, and brings experience and strategic vision needed to grow and commer­cialize Tidal Metals’ technology.

As our friends at Tidal Metals work to secure a reliable, domestic, and envi­ron­men­tally friendly supply of critical materials, we are thrilled to be part of their journey.