Alta Resource Technologies, a pioneer in using advanced biochemistry to transform mineral separation, announced that it has expanded its Series Seed funding to $10 million with the close of an additional $4.4 million investment. The Seed 2 funding was co-led by DCVC and Voyager Ventures with participation from Orion Industrial Ventures and In-Q-Tel (IQT), the not-for-profit strategic investor for the U.S. national security community and America’s allies. Along with the private capital, Alta has received grant support from federal partners and the State of Colorado.
Value proposition: This funding round comes at a crucial time for critical-mineral supply chains, many of which are dominated by China. This concentration of control raised alarms about economic and national security. Due to the growing urgency around supply chain resilience, the US government issued an executive order in March 2025 to boost domestic mineral production and reduce U.S. reliance on fragile foreign supply chains. Alta’s technology provides a timely and scalable solution: a low-impact way to extract high-purity critical minerals from unconventional and previously uneconomic sources.
Alta’s platform is based on protein engineering innovations developed in partnership with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and researchers at Pennsylvania State University. And by customizing proteins to bind selectively to individual elements—even at low concentrations in complex mixtures—Alta’s solution offers far greater precision than conventional separation methods. The result is a step-change in the efficiency, sustainability, and economics of processing rare earths and other critical materials.
What the funding will be used for: This funding round will be used to advance the development and commercialization of Alta’s breakthrough platform, which utilizes engineered proteins to selectively bind to and separate critical minerals, including rare earth elements like neodymium and dysprosium from low-grade ores and complex waste streams. This approach promises to dramatically reduce mineral extraction’s environmental impact while helping secure domestic supply chains for essential materials used in advanced electronics, clean energy technologies, and modern defense systems.
The company will also use the new funding to expand its technical team, advance commercial pilots, and extend its technology to a broader range of metal targets and feedstocks, including mine tailings, waste streams, and end-of-life products.
KEY QUOTES:
“Securing resilient, low-impact sources of critical minerals is no longer optional for America and its allies—it’s a strategic imperative. Washington is beginning to respond with the kind of wartime urgency this moment demands, and Alta’s technology is uniquely positioned to deliver. Our protein-based platform gives the U.S. a scalable way to tap into unconventional mineral resources right here at home, while slashing both costs and environmental impact.”
Nathan Ratledge, PhD, Alta’s Co-Founder and CEO
“Alta exemplifies how deep technology can address critical global challenges while creating enormous commercial value. We’re increasing our investment because Alta has assembled an exceptional team and demonstrated remarkable progress in developing a revolutionary platform for critical mineral separation that can help secure America’s technological future.”
James Hardiman, General Partner at DCVC
“Alta’s protein-based platform demonstrates the promise of engineering biology to address significant national security challenges. We are excited about supporting Alta’s technological innovation to diversify the nation’s sources of critical minerals and advance domestic processing capabilities.”
Dr. Jessica Dymond, VP, Technology at IQT
