Found Industries, an I-Corps alum and participant in the first ARPA-E conference course in May 2022, has recently received a major Department of Energy critical minerals award. The company was selected as one of five organizations splitting $5.4 million through the DOE Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovations. This startup has developed a technology that expands access to a critical mineral essential to the semiconductor industry.
Found Industries improves energy and critical materials supply chains by finding ways to recover and maximize valuable resources already embedded in existing industrial processes. Rather than rebuilding systems from scratch, they use practical, constraints-based innovation to unlock overlooked energy and critical metals within current infrastructure, helping industries solve supply challenges faster and more efficiently. Gallium is a critical material used in the defense and semiconductor sectors, but the United States currently completely relies on gallium imports. Since 1987, domestic production of gallium has not existed, creating major supply chain issues and national security concerns.
To address this problem, Found Industries created a Direct Bayer Extraction (DBE) technology that uses a continuous electrochemical process to recover gallium directly from dilute Bayer liquor. Their technology offers a more efficient path toward domestic gallium recovery.
Found Industries and CEO Peter Godart participated in the IN Hub’s first ARPA-E course in May 2022. Through I-Corps, the team worked on customer discovery, commercialization strategy, and refining the market need for their technology. I-Corps helped Found Industries to bridge the gap between their pre-existing research and a real-world application.
The DOE award is not just a company milestone. The award reflects the broader mission of I-Corps, showing how breakthrough technologies can move from idea to implementation with the right support.