Rio Tinto & founders factory unveil new investments reducing the impact of mining

Rio Tinto, in partnership with Founders Factory, has unveiled six new investments spanning laser-based superdeep drilling, ecosystem restoration, robotic revegetation solutions, mineral waste valorisation for extracting critical metals and nature and biodiversity monitoring. The investments reflect Rio Tinto’s commitment to finding better and more sustainable ways to provide the materials the world needs, including reducing the impact of mining and restoring the environment across mine sites.  

The six investments are:

• DNAir - Capturing air-borne environmental DNA (eDNA) with sensors, critical biological data that can be used in biodiversity management, invasive species management, environmental impact and biosecurity (Zurich, Switzerland)
• Foray - Growing seeds from cells to support scalable ecosystem restoration. Reengineering plant cultivation by fabricating viable seeds from plant cells to print seeds on demand to protect and restore natural ecosystems (Cambridge, US)
• FAST Metals - Turning mine waste into profit - a cost-effective, low-energy, zero-waste process that extracts critical metals and green iron from bauxite tailings and beyond, delivering up to 50 per cent higher margins.(New York, US) 
• Hades - Next generation subsurface drilling technology for superdeep mining to unlock Europe’s geothermal energy and critical minerals (Munich, Germany)
• Namu Robotics - Pioneering the future of reforestation with autonomous robotics—delivering scalable and verifiable restoration that rebuilds biodiversity, and strengthens climate resilience (US) .
• Spoor - AI-powered biodiversity monitoring that helps wind energy grow responsibly, intelligently and in harmony with nature. (Oslo, Norway)

Over the past 18 months, Founders Factory, together with Rio Tinto Ventures, has reviewed over 1,500 startups globally to select 18 investments - including this current cohort. Since launching in 2024, many of the accelerator participants have secured research agreements with Rio Tinto and its various business units across the world.

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Dan Walker, Chief Innovation Officer at Rio Tinto, “At Rio Tinto, we know we can't tackle the industry's toughest challenges alone. That’s why partnerships with startups are vital to our innovation strategy. Our Ventures team backs startups from pre-seed all the way to first-of-a-kind scale to compress timelines to impact. This includes our Accelerator Programme with our partners at Founders Factory, focusing on founders early in their journey, bringing in fresh thinking and cutting-edge technologies from inside and outside the mining sector to help us solve real-world challenges faster, more sustainably, and ultimately at scale. We’re incredibly excited about this new cohort of startups and the opportunity to work together to shape the future of materials, mining, and the energy transition.”

George Northcott, President at Founders Factory, “We are excited to work with this next cohort and understand how their technologies can be deployed in the mining sector. We are grateful to the many Rio Tinto experts and business leaders who help the founders adapt their value propositions for the sector and drive testing and commercialisation opportunities. There has never been a more important time for the provision of critical minerals and materials for electrification and many other of the world’s needs, and we are excited to be part of developing the right solutions whilst protecting nature in the process”.

As well as receiving seed capital, these six startups have entered a four-month accelerator program, delivered by Founders Factory and Rio Tinto, aiming to help founders identify clear use cases for their technology and pathways to commercialisation with Rio Tinto. This includes rigorous operational support, direct access to Rio Tinto’ senior mentors and advisors, techno-economic modelling and value proposition and pilot development. All of the companies are invited to a residential week in Perth as well as Founders Factory events across the world in London, Singapore, Sydney and New York.

The Mining Tech accelerator founders will be at IMARC Global 2025 in Sydney from 21st to 23rd October as part of an innovation showcase and discussion led by Founders Factory on funding the future of mining technology.

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Note: This article has been issued by Rio Tinto and has been published by AL Circle with its original information without any modifications or edits to the core subject/data.