Boston Metal – a global metals technology solutions company – recently announced the closing of its Series C fundraising, bringing the series total to $262 million. The new investors include Aramco Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of Aramco; global investment manager M&G Investments; natural resource investment firm Goehring & Rozencwajg; and investment management firm Baillie Gifford. And existing investor Breakthrough Energy Ventures also joined the round, and several others made additional investments in the Series C, including Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, BHP Ventures and Prelude Ventures.
Building on the momentum the initial Series C funding announced earlier this year – which welcomed ArcelorMittal S.A., Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, SiteGround Capital and IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank, as investors – Boston Metal is going to accelerate deployment of its high-value metals business, grow its team globally and commercially demonstrate its Molten Oxide Electrolysis (MOE) platform for decarbonized steelmaking.
The metals and mining sectors have been significant pressure to shift to more sustainable production methods while enhancing efficiency and profitability. And Boston Metal is developing a scalable technology platform that uses electricity to produce a variety of metals and alloys from a wide range of feedstocks.
The company’s Molten Oxide Electrolysis process is simpler, more energy efficient, and has a lower environmental impact than traditional methods. And with its high-value metals business, Boston Metal is empowering mining companies to create new revenue streams by deploying MOE to extract high-value metals from complex, low-concentration materials that are currently considered waste.
Plus, the company’s technology for low-carbon emissions steel uses the MOE process and renewable electricity to eliminate Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions from steelmaking, which today accounts for about 10% of global CO2 emissions. While many green steel solutions are dependent on scarce high-grade iron ores, the MOE technology could produce high-quality liquid steel from the more abundant medium- and low-grade iron ores.
Boston Metal is now on track to ship its first high-value metals in 2024 and expects to bring MOE to the steel market by 2026, helping the industry to achieve 2050 net-zero commitments.
KEY QUOTES:
“Boston Metal has made remarkable progress on the maturation of its MOE technology and business model, which has the potential to decarbonize steelmaking at scale while delivering significant value and sustainability benefits for the metals industry. We’re proud to continue our investment in the company, as it’s an example of the high-impact technology we seek to support solving the world’s most pressing climate problems.”
– Carmichael Roberts, Breakthrough Energy Ventures
“This investment in Boston Metal will help foster the innovation and collaboration required to address climate challenges. Green steel solutions, like Boston Metal’s, have the potential to tackle emissions in one of the most difficult-to-abate industries, and we believe the company has the leadership, technology and strategy necessary to meet this opportunity.”
– Jim Sledzik, managing director, North America, Aramco Ventures
“Boston Metal is working to decarbonize the steelmaking and metals industries. Boston Metal’s MOE technology paired with an experienced leadership team provides a major opportunity to reduce emissions in hard-to-abate industries worldwide. This is a good example of a climate tech company that has the potential to contribute to us living in a more sustainable world.”
– Thierry Masson, head of Catalyst – Americas at M&G Investments
“Boston Metal’s success in raising capital from diverse sources spanning private equity, venture capital, institutional investors and strategic investors demonstrates robust confidence in Boston Metal’s ability to transform steel and metals production for a sustainable future. Our high-value metals business is nearing commercialization at our subsidiary in Brazil, with our manufacturing facility opening this fall, and we continue to make significant progress on the scale-up of MOE for green steel production at our pilot plant outside of Boston.”
– Tadeu Carneiro, chairman and CEO, Boston Metal
