Duranium is a Y Combinator (S25) advanced-materials company reshoring U.S. production of critical metals - titanium, magnesium, aluminum, zirconium and hafnium. It modernizes carbochlorination metallurgy with a novel reactor that recirculates CO and chlorine streams back into feedstock and spins off a saleable co-product (bleaching agents/hypochlorite), aiming to match Chinese-level pricing without subsidies while eliminating direct emissions. Founded in 2025 by CEO Brenden Prins-McKinney and CTO Berkley Noble, the company targets a pilot facility by June 2026 and roughly 12% of the U.S. magnesium market by 2029.
Electroflow Technologies is a San Bruno, California startup building an electrochemical direct lithium extraction (DLE) process that turns low-grade, dilute North American brines into battery-grade lithium and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) powder. By collapsing a conventional 10-step brine-to-LFP process down to three steps and using lithium-selective electrodes, the company aims to produce LFP cathode material domestically at under $2,500 per metric ton - roughly 40% below current Chinese producers - while using minimal water, chemicals, and electricity.
Magrathea is an Oakland, California clean-tech company rebuilding American magnesium production. Using a next-generation electrolytic process, it makes magnesium metal from seawater and brines with near-zero carbon emissions, aiming to break the West's dependence on Chinese supply for a metal critical to aerospace, automotive, and defense.