Genomines

Genomines is a deeptech company that uses plants to sustainably produce nickel for electric vehicle batteries, thereby helping to secure Europe's supply of critical metals. 

Our innovative technology is based on the use of hyperaccumulator plants, capable of naturally extracting nickel from soils. We have been able to enhance their metal absorption capacities through biotechnology, which enables us to produce carbon-neutral nickel on a large scale.

Demand for nickel in batteries for electric vehicles is set to increase 8-fold between 2020 and 2030, reaching 1.6 million tonnes of nickel. This represents an annual market worth over USD 30 billion.

Our geological experts have identified 35 million hectares of non-arable land below mining industry selection criteria (insufficient nickel concentration to be profitable), representing an annual production potential of 10 to 12 times current nickel production.

We operate across the entire value chain, from the cultivation of these plants on dedicated farms, to the transformation of the harvested biomass into nickel crystal. Our goal is to manage around 35,000 hectares of fields by 2030 to produce nickel bio-concentrates and our flagship product, nickel sulfate hexahydrate (NSH).

We collaborate closely with leading research partners such as the CNRS Institut des Sciences et des Plantes and CentraleSupélec's Génie Procédés Matériaux laboratory. We are also members of the Norrsken 100 and Elemental Excelerator acceleration programs, have received awards such as the Grand Prix ACF Autotech 2024, and are Diamond List, Spring 50 and Hello Tomorrow finalists. 

We have completed a $5.2m Seed and benefit from the support of investors such as Lowercarbon Capital (Tier 1 Climate Fund with $2bn under management) and Entrepreneur First, and have received several grants as well as the backing of leading French banks.

At the moment, we are raising funds through our Series A campaign.