Funding will accelerate manufacturing scale-up and industrial validation of drop-in biochemical flotation reagents designed to help miners recover more copper from increasingly complex ores

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina and SANTIAGO, Chile, Oct. 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Giraffe Bio, a company developing programmable biomolecules to recover critical minerals with a lower environmental footprint, has raised a $6.4 million Seed round to validate and scale its mineral-specific reagent platform.

The round was led by Orion Industrial Ventures, with participation from BHP Ventures, Twynam, Air Capital, Baruch Future Ventures, and other investors, building on prior backing from SOSV. Additionally, Giraffe Bio was chosen as the first company from Latin America to participate in Breakthrough Energy’s prestigious Fellows Program. BE Fellows receive funding, tailored technical guidance, and access to Breakthrough Energy’s global network of mentors, experts and partners. The program helps founders bridge the gap from lab to market and advance their solutions toward commercial readiness.

Copper is essential to power grids, renewable energy, electric vehicles and data infrastructure, but meeting rising demand will require miners to recover more metal from lower-grade and more complex ores.

Concurrently, flotation, the process used to separate valuable minerals from unwanted material, underpins roughly 80% of global copper production and plays a critical role in determining the quality and quantity of copper a mine can recover.

Yet much of the chemistry used in floatation was developed decades ago.

Giraffe Bio is applying a drug-discovery playbook to mining, combining AI-enabled molecular design, cell-free biology and testing on real ore samples to engineer biochemical promoters for copper flotation. Tailored to specific minerals and ore conditions, these reagents are designed to help mines recover more copper and other valuable minerals while producing cleaner concentrates.

These finished, drop-in reagents work alongside existing flotation chemicals, without requiring new equipment or infrastructure. They bring the precision of molecular design to mineral processing without relying on living organisms in the mining operation.

Over the past year, Giraffe Bio has progressed from laboratory development to validating its technology with global mining companies across multiple copper ore types. The company is now advancing toward larger-scale pilots and industrial validation.

"Mining companies increasingly need to process more complex ores, but the chemistry used to separate those minerals has changed little in decades," said Alejandro Buffo Sempe, CEO and co-founder of Giraffe Bio. "We are applying modern biology and molecular design to engineer better reagents for existing flotation circuits. Our aim is to give operators a new lever to recover more value from the ore they already process, without requiring new infrastructure "

"Giraffe sits at the intersection of biology and mining, an emerging field with enormous potential, " said Jason Holt, Managing Partner at Orion Industrial Ventures. "Advances in genetic sequencing and high-performance computing are making it possible to design biological solutions with a level of precision and speed that simply wasn't available a decade ago, and Giraffe is applying those capabilities to one of mining's most fundamental challenges; namely, separating valuable minerals from increasingly complex ores. We believe we have only scratched the surface of what biology can do for the mining industry, and Giraffe is an exciting example of what that future can look like."

The financing will support manufacturing scale-up, larger-scale pilot programs, expanded R&D and testing capabilities, and continued growth of the company's technical and commercial teams.

To learn more about Giraffe Bio, visit https://giraffe.bio/en

About Giraffe Bio

Giraffe Bio develops mineral-specific biochemical reagents for mining. The company combines Al-enabled molecular design, cell-free biology and testing on real ore samples to develop finished, drop-in reagents that integrate directly into existing mineral processing operations. Initially focused on copper flotation, Giraffe Bio was founded in 2024 and operates in Argentina and Chile, working with mining partners globally.

About Orion Industrial Ventures

Orion Industrial Ventures (OIV) is a venture capital firm investing in technologies that enable the secure, sustainable, and cost-competitive supply of the minerals and materials that underpin global industrial growth, electrification, and decarbonization. OIV backs early- and growth-stage companies across the mining value chain, including exploration, extraction, processing, recycling, and industrial efficiency. Leveraging the deep industry expertise and global network of the broader Orion platform, OIV helps portfolio companies accelerate commercialization and scale their impact.

Media contact

Alejandro Buffo Sempe

CEO & co-founder, Giraffe Bio
pr@giraffe.bio
www.giraffe.bio