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Impossible Metals

Underwater robotic vehicles that collect battery metals responsibly

Y CombinatorWinter 2022ActiveIndustrialsClimateArtificial IntelligenceHard TechRoboticsMining

What they do

Problem

Sourcing critical battery metals for EVs is costly and environmentally damaging with traditional mining methods.

Solution

The company builds underwater robotic vehicles and arms to selectively collect polymetallic nodules from the seabed with minimal environmental impact.

Who it's for

Battery metal producers and EV supply-chain companies (and their offshore mining operators) use this to obtain nickel, cobalt, manganese, and copper.

Founders

Oliver Gunasekara
CEO / Co-Founder

Early employee at Arm. Grew Arm's market share from 0% to 95%. VP, Global Head of Corporate Development. Sponsored and executing the 2006 acquisition of Falanx (Mali GPU) by Arm. Founder of the non-profit MIPI Alliance. Founded and ran NGCodec as its CEO for 7 years till its successful 5x exit to Xilinx in 2019. Founded Impossible Mining and recruited co-founders. CEO/Co-founder, Entrepreneur, Investor & Advisor in DeepTech/ClimateTech 30+ years experience.

Jason Gillham
Founder

Jason is an achievement driven entrepreneur, driven by seeing positive impact to society. His passion is solving customer problems through unique business models, technology and go to market strategies. With a passion for subsea technology, his first company, 2G Robotics (Voyis), developed an underwater laser scanner and imaging product for monitoring in the offshore energy, military and civil infrastructure markets. He led the company to a successful acquisition in January 2020.

Renee Grogan
Founder

Renee is a sustainability expert with 16 years' experience in due diligence, pre-feasibility and feasibility, permitting, strategy, risk and community and stakeholder engagement. Her experience includes working in Australasia, the Pacific, the United States, Africa and parts of Europe. Renee has worked predominantly in the extractive resources industry, including consulting to financial institutions, resources companies, government and intergovernmental agencies, NGOs and research institutions.

Company timeline

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