BlueShift Exits Stealth with $2.1M in Pre-Seed Funding to Enable U.S. Self-Reliance Amid Changing Energy Landscape

The company’s tech promises to unlock sustainable, domestic critical mineral supplies while providing affordable ocean carbon removal.

BlueShift Exits Stealth with $2.1M in Pre-Seed Funding to Enable U.S. Self-Reliance Amid Changing Energy Landscape

BOSTON, March 19, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BlueShift, the electrochemical climate tech innovator, today emerged from stealth with the announcement of a successful $2.1 million pre-seed funding round. ConocoPhillips Company, Ridgeline, and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), with participation from others, have provided funding to enable BlueShift to begin construction of its pilot facility.

Working out of North America’s largest climate tech incubator, Greentown Labs, and MIT’s The Engine accelerator, BlueShift will direct the bulk of its funding to the first pilot installation of its electrochemical technology in Boston Harbor.

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Combining proprietary membrane-free technology from the University of Michigan, Harvard and supported by ARPA-E—along with additive manufacturing elements and existing infrastructure—BlueShift’s innovative electrochemical systems process alkaline industrial waste and seawater to isolate critical minerals using infrastructure commonly found at desalination and power plants. As a bonus, BlueShift’s low-cost, energy-efficient technologies also extract CO₂ directly from seawater as limestone, helping to address the growing environmental issue of ocean acidification.

“BlueShift was founded with the mission of promoting economic resilience by unlocking underutilized resources using advanced technologies,” said Deep Patel, Founder & CEO of BlueShift. “And there is perhaps no other class of resources better positioned to benefit from this mission today than that of critical minerals and rare earth elements (REEs). Given the dramatic scale of environmental degradation, operational inefficiencies, and global trade imbalances plaguing this market, we felt it was imperative to develop a more sustainable, scalable, and geopolitically stable source of these vital resources. The result is a new system that addresses all of these issues while also offering a low-cost, energy-efficient method for direct carbon dioxide removal (CDR) from our Earth’s ailing oceans.”

Why a New Path to Critical Mineral Extraction Is Needed Now More Than Ever

Like most traditional mining practices, those used in the extraction of critical minerals and REEs cause significant environmental damage, including ecosystem destruction, water pollution, and toxic waste production.

Nonetheless, multiple trillion-dollar global industries depend on these raw materials to produce everything from steel and cosmetics to advanced battery technologies. Indeed, the demand for critical minerals for clean energy technologies is expected to nearly triple by 2030.

Adding to the challenge, China currently accounts for 70% of global REE extraction, 87% of global REE processing, and roughly two-thirds of the world’s processing and refining capacity for critical minerals. Domestic sources of these raw materials have become increasingly important for both the U.S. sustainable energy goals and national security.

A Closer Look at BlueShift’s Electrochemical Technology

Recognizing these problems, the BlueShift team developed its electrochemical systems to unlock resilient, rapidly scalable critical mineral supply chains. Past efforts at isolating these minerals from industrial waste have struggled to scale due to the high energy costs and intensive capital requirements associated with prevailing electrochemical processes.

This is where BlueShift’s innovations stand apart. Using efficient, modular electrochemical units combined with the power of the ocean, BlueShift’s system is up to 10 times more energy efficient than competing technologies. Furthermore, by avoiding the use of previous materials or bipolar membranes, BlueShift’s technology requires significantly reduced capital expenditures.

Simultaneously, these technologies offer a low-cost, energy-efficient means of combatting ocean acidification through direct carbon dioxide removal from seawater. In fact, within 14 months of its deployment, BlueShift’s Boston Harbor pilot facility is expected to see a 30x increase in total carbon dioxide removed annually.

How BlueShift’s Technology Is Advancing the Energy Transition

“Meeting our climate goals is going to require low-cost, large-scale carbon dioxide removal. BlueShift’s electrochemical technology is a promising new solution to this problem, while its domestic production of critical minerals could contribute to resilient supply chains for clean-energy industries,” said David Wilson, Investment Principal at the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. “We’re delighted to be working with the team, as they build their company and pilot the technology in Massachusetts, and glad to have ConocoPhillips bringing its energy industry expertise and support.”

BlueShift’s business model comprises multiple distinct revenue streams, including the sale of: critical minerals such as nickel, REE products such as neodymium and dysprosium, carbon credits, and licensing and engineering packages to utilities, desalination plants, and others.

The BlueShift team has already secured several suppliers of input materials for the extraction of critical minerals and REE, including coal ash and olivine mining waste. Both inputs will be processed over the next three quarters as an initial go-to-market implementation of their electrochemical technology and carbon removal system. Additional capital will be used to acquire key production materials, fulfill various technical milestones, and recruit top-tier talent.

“BlueShift raises the bar for sustainable industrial innovation—advancing domestic critical-mineral production while capturing carbon from seawater. At Ridgeline, we’re proud to back a team proving we can unlock vital resources and build a more resilient future,” said Ryan Clinton, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Ridgeline.

About BlueShift

Founded in 2024 by a small team of academics, engineers, and climate-tech veterans, BlueShift’s mission is to cultivate economic resilience and environmental sustainability by unlocking underutilized resources with advanced technologies. The company’s electrochemical mineral extraction with carbon removal system is designed to provide more sustainable, scalable, and cost-effective access to alternative critical mineral supply chains, while simultaneously helping to combat climate change. The company utilizes a redox-based, membrane-free electrochemical process to upcycle industrial waste into critical minerals like nickel, and rare earth elements like neodymium, while capturing carbon dioxide directly from the ocean—ultimately enabling industrial sectors to access sustainable sources of these vital materials while simultaneously removing gigatons of excess carbon dioxide from the Earth’s oceans. To learn more about BlueShift, please visit http://buildblueshift.com.