Against the backdrop of record-shattering copper prices—which touched a historic $13,238 per metric ton this week—Transition Metal Solutions (formerly Transition Biomining), a pioneer of bio-enabled copper extraction technology, said that it has closed an oversubscribed $6 million seed funding round.
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Transition Metal Solutions said the fresh capital injection will further fuel its 2026 roadmap, bringing its bio-based copper mining technology from laboratory settings into an industrial-scale deployment as the global “copper crunch” impacts AI and EV supply chains.
Bio-based copper mining, or biomining (bioleaching), is a sustainable, eco-friendly method that utilizes microorganisms—such as bacteria, archaea, and fungi—to extract copper from low-grade ores, waste materials, and tailing dumps. This effective biomining process is vital for the mining industry to meet rising global copper demand while operating sustainably, with roughly 20% of the world’s copper currently produced via microbial leaching.
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Transition Metal Solutions said capital injection will help it to solve the looming global copper shortage by “supercharging” the biology already present in existing mining operations. S&P Global predicts copper demand will quadruple by 2040, mainly driven by data center construction in the U.S.
The investment round was led by Transition Ventures, with participation from a global syndicate of climate and deeptech investors including SOSV, Dolby Family Ventures, Astor Management AG, Juniper VC, and Climate Capital — alongside new investors Possible Ventures, Understorey Ventures, New Climate Ventures, Essential Capital, and Kayak Ventures.
Headquartered at UC Berkeley’s Bakar Labs for Energy & Materials, Metal Solutions is focusing on boosting copper production from existing mining operations using custom chemical additives that activate native microbial communities.
The company’s proprietary platform analyzes the microbes living in an orebody and predicts, tests, and formulates chemical additives to optimize the specific wild biology and deliver more copper. The concept emerged following work at a major copper mine where some heaps were producing significantly more copper than expected. Analysis revealed the overperformance was driven by the diverse microbes found in the ore — over 90 percent of which had never been isolated or sequenced.
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