Calgary-based lithium extraction startup Summit Nanotech has secured a $25.5-million USD ($36.5 million CAD) funding round to go from demonstration to commercialization.
The round led by returning investors Evok Innovations and BDC Capital’s Climate Tech Fund, with participation from Xora Innovation, Capricorn Investment Group, LG Technology Ventures, and Japanese mining company Mitsui Kinzoku’s SBI Material Innovation Fund.
“This funding comes at a pivotal time for Summit as we strengthen our strategic partnerships and transition from demonstration to full-scale commercial design,” Summit Nanotech founder and CEO Amanda Hall said in a statement.
The startup recently commissioned a demonstration plant in Northern Chile.
Founded in 2018, Summit uses advanced nanomaterial and a data analytics platform to offer direct lithium extraction technology. Lithium is a critical chemical element used to manufacture batteries, including for electric vehicles. Summit claims that its patented denaLi product captures the lithium ion from brine water with minimal impact to the environment.
“We need to get more competitive lithium to market if we are to meet the global demand for electric vehicles,” BDC Capital Climate Tech Fund partner Cheri Corbett said in a statement, adding that Summit is the kind of growth-minded Canadian business BDC is designed to “help get to the next level.”
Summit said it has achieved a few key milestones in the past six months, including commissioning a demonstration plant in Northern Chile, one of the largest sources of lithium in the world.
RELATED: Mangrove Lithium secures $50.4 million to construct lithium refining plant in British Columbia
The company last raised $50 million USD ($67.4 million CAD, at the time) in what it classified as a “Series A2 round” in January 2023. Hall called the raise a bridge round, and noted that Summit hoped to raise a larger Series B round that gives it a “high valuation” at a later date.
In September 2023, Bloomberg reported that Summit was looking to raise a $150-million Series B round at a valuation between $400 million and $600 million. Hall also told Bloomberg at the time that her company may also look to go public, or be acquired by a lithium producer or electric-vehicle maker. As of now, it appears none of the three options has panned out, outside of this latest raise. BetaKit has reached out to Summit for more details on its efforts to raise a Series B round but did not hear back by press time.
Summit Nanotech was one of the many returning Canadian companies on this year’s Global Cleantech 100 list. The list, developed by San Francisco-based research and consulting firm Cleantech Group, aims to predict what cleantech companies around the world will make a substantial impact on the market in the next five to 10 years.
Feature image courtesy Summit Nanotech via Facebook.