Vancouver’s pH7 Technologies has raised USD $25.6 million in the initial closing of its Series B round, the company announced Wednesday. The financing—expected to exceed $30 million after subsequent closings—is led by Fine Structure Ventures, with BHP Ventures joining as a key strategic investor. Additional new backers include Energy & Environment Investment (EEI), Siteground, Gaingels Fund, and Calm Venture, alongside returning investors TDK Ventures, B.C.’s Pangaea Ventures, Rhapsody Venture Partners, and BASF Venture Capital.

The raise marks one of the BC tech sector’s larger deeptech financings this year and underscores growing investor urgency around commercial pathways for securing critical minerals—materials that underpin electric vehicles, clean energy systems, modern computing, and AI infrastructure.

At the centre of pH7’s pitch is a proprietary organo-electrochemical extraction process that aims to help mining and recycling operators economically recover metals from sources that have long been considered uneconomic: low-grade ores, tailings, and complex feedstocks.

The company describes the system as a closed-loop, water-free process that integrates into familiar on-site mining equipment while reducing energy consumption and the environmental footprint associated with traditional extraction methods.

A major near-term target is copper, where demand is soaring but the availability of high-grade ore is shrinking. pH7 says its approach can transform extraction from sulfide ores—historically difficult and expensive to process—producing higher recoveries at lower capital cost. A pilot program for copper heap leaching is already underway, with the company pointing to early gains in efficiency and yield.

CEO Mohammad Doostmohammadi says the new funding will accelerate the company’s shift from pilot programs to full-scale commercial deployments at mines around the world.

“This Series B funding is a major validation of our technology for the economic value it brings to miners and metal producers,” Doostmohammadi said in the announcement. “At a time of global scarcity, geopolitical resource competition, and growing emphasis on strengthening sovereign supply chains, our technology provides a new pathway for nations to secure resilient, domestic sources of the metals that underpin modern infrastructure and the energy transition.”

The company has already commercialized part of its technology at a Vancouver facility focused on extracting platinum group metals from spent catalysts. Copper is next, followed by nickel and other critical minerals.

For Fine Structure Ventures, the appeal is in unlocking new mineral supply without the cost and environmental burden of traditional methods.

“This breakthrough offers a scalable, economically sound, and cleaner approach to meeting the world’s growing demand for critical minerals,” said Shyam Kamadolli, managing director at the firm.

BHP Ventures echoed that sentiment, calling pH7’s approach a potential catalyst for how major miners source future supply. “The electrochemical process developed by pH7 unlocks a significant opportunity through extraction of critical minerals from low-grade ores and tailings,” said Laurel Buckner, VP of Ventures at BHP.

As governments race to shore up domestic mineral supply chains—and as BC positions itself as a hub for cleantech and mining innovation—pH7’s raise highlights a growing intersection between deep science, strategic resource policy, and global industrial demand.