Molten Salt Solutions has closed an oversubscribed $7 million seed financing round to scale production of enriched lithium isotopes needed for fusion and advanced fission technologies. Dolby Family Ventures led the round, with participation from Vanedge Capital Partners, Alumni Ventures, Gaingels, True Ventures and Future Ventures.
The New Mexico-based company is focused initially on lithium-6 and lithium-7.
Lithium-6 is required in significant quantities by certain fusion energy systems, while lithium-7 is used in advanced molten salt fission reactors.
Molten Salt Solutions said the U.S. currently lacks commercial-scale domestic production of either isotope, creating a supply-chain challenge as developers attempt to move new reactor technologies toward commercialization.
The new financing will support the company’s transition from laboratory-validated technology into pilot-scale production under active customer agreements.
Capital will also be used to expand technical and operations teams and deepen relationships with companies across the fusion and advanced nuclear supply chain.
Molten Salt Solutions was founded by entrepreneurs and isotope-enrichment specialists with experience at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The company says its proprietary enrichment platform is approximately 100 times more efficient than legacy enrichment methods. That efficiency figure is a company claim and will ultimately depend on performance as the technology moves toward larger-scale production.
The $7 million seed follows a previous $3 million pre-seed round and more than $5 million of grant funding, including support through New Mexico’s Advanced Energy Award.
Beyond lithium, Molten Salt Solutions plans to develop additional enriched stable isotopes serving emerging nuclear and advanced technology markets.
KEY QUOTE:
“Both depend on a secure domestic supply of enriched lithium. MSS meets this need.”
John Elling, CEO Of Molten Salt Solutions
