to recover freshwater and valuable minerals from brine generated by the desalination process.
Seamoretech, a Porto-based CleanTech startup that converts desalination brine into freshwater and critical minerals, has secured €1.1 million in the first closing of its Seed round.
The round saw participation from Rypples, 7Seas Capital, and Crédito Agrícola, bringing together investors with experience in OceanTech and ClimateTech industries. Previous investors include Faber and CORBITES. In total they have raised €3 million, including their previous investments.
“We are entering Seamoretech’s next phase with a clear ambition: to scale our technology, accelerate our market entry, produce freshwater at a lower cost, and establish a European reference in critical raw materials recovery, while helping protect marine ecosystems,” said Sofia Delgado, CEO and co-founder of Seamoretech.
Founded in 2021 by Delgado and Eva Sousa as a spin-off of the University of Porto’s Faculty of Engineering (FEUP), Seamoretech tackles brine, the highly concentrated saline waste stream that industries have long treated as a liability and discarded into the ocean. The startup’s proprietary brine valorisation technology recovers purified freshwater and high-value minerals, including magnesium, calcium, copper, and lithium, from the waste stream.
The technology relies on a containerised, plug-and-play system that uses a forward osmosis process to achieve Zero Liquid Discharge, meaning nothing is returned to the ocean. This system is designed to integrate into existing plant infrastructure without requiring operational downtime or upfront capital expenditure from plant operators.
Seamoretech says its system doubles freshwater production yield, cuts energy consumption by 50% compared with reverse osmosis, reduces operating costs by 30%, and lowers carbon emissions by up to 80% relative to conventional mineral mining.
Unlike other CleanTech startups, Seamoretech is not only working to accelerate the climate transition but also addressing two of Europe’s major priorities: water scarcity and securing domestic supply of critical raw materials. By recovering minerals such as lithium and magnesium from a local, fully traceable source, Seamoretech is showing the critical impact of its technology.
The new funding will be used for Seamoretech’s next phase of industrialisation and support its commercial expansion, including a planned launch in Spain next year. The company has already demonstrated collaboration in Spain and is now building a pipeline of pilot projects across several markets, including Spain and Egypt.
The startup plans to open a second closing of its Seed round in the coming months. With technology that can deploy rapidly on existing plant infrastructure and Spanish expansion on the horizon, Seamoretech aims to become Europe’s answer to water scarcity and critical mineral shortfalls, reducing global reliance on new mineral extraction by 30% by 2040.
(Source: EU-Startups)
