Impossible Mining Inc., building responsible seabed mining and refining technology, announced they have closed an additional US$10.1 million in seed funding led by University of Waterloo alumnus Justin Hamilton (https://www.linkedin.com/in/justindh/) with additional participation from a select group of Y Combinator investors to develop and test the six-kilometre-deep robotic collection system and to continue developing their unique mineral bio-extraction technology. 

“Lithium-ion battery markets will increase tenfold in the next decade, fueled by growth in EVs,” said Justin Hamilton, lead investor. “The deep seabed contains the largest global resource of battery metals. The Impossible Mining team has demonstrated its robotics technology showing the capabilities for selective pickup, rising to the challenge of accessing these metals in an environmentally responsible way.”

“The U.S. needs independent, secure access to critical battery metals. We are excited to accelerate the production of our deep water robots with this injection of capital, and to prove to both regulators and stakeholders that we can achieve what dredge-based technology can’t – the preservation of the seafloor environment,” said Oliver Gunasekara, CEO and co-founder of Impossible Mining.

The list of investors include all three previous CEOs of ARM Holdings PLC (Mr. Simon Segars, Mr. Warren East and Sir Robin Saxby), existing investors Chalet.vc with the addition of Aureolis Ventures, CapitalX, Climate Collective, Futureland Ventures, Gaingels, Liquid 2 Ventures, Microventures, Newgen Venture, New Venture Order, Noveus Capital, Park Capital, Palrecha Capital, Pareta Ventures, Quiet Ventures, Rebel Fund, Soma Capital Fund, Starlight Ventures, Tango.vc, Y Combinator, Zillionize plus a number of angel investors.

Impossible Mining also announces its key advisors:

  • Mr. Bob Galyen, Former CTO of CATL

  • Mr. Dan Lankford, Former CEO of AT&T Microelectronics - Europe

  • Mr. Justin Manley, AUV design expert

  • Mr. Simon Segars, Former CEO of ARM and formed board member of SoftBank

  • Mr. Phil Straw, CEO of SoftIron, underwater expert