Princeton Critical Minerals, a startup derived from research at Princeton University, has completed a funding round totaling $16 million to advance its lithium production technologies. The financing comprises an $11 million Series A investment led by SOSV alongside contributions from multiple venture firms and environmental-focused organizations, supplemented by over $5 million in federal grant funding from the National Science Foundation, ARPA-E, and state economic development sources.
The company has developed a technology platform designed to enhance the efficiency and yield of lithium extraction from brine sources, which contain more than half of the world’s lithium reserves. PCM’s approach integrates evaporation enhancement, artificial intelligence-based monitoring systems, and selective crystallization processes to help producers increase output while reducing energy requirements, chemical usage, and operational complexity. According to the company’s co-founder and CEO, the convergence of demand from electric vehicle batteries, energy storage systems, artificial intelligence infrastructure, and broader electrification has created significant constraints on the critical mineral supply chain.
The company has recently transitioned from pilot operations to active industrial-scale deployment, having installed its Lilypad technology in Chile’s brine operations. The system integrates directly into existing evaporation ponds that process naturally occurring mineral-rich groundwater. In addition to this deployment milestone, PCM is conducting field tests of two supplementary technologies in Chile focused on optimizing evaporation processes and AI-powered process control.
With government support for domestic critical mineral infrastructure increasing, the company is simultaneously preparing for commercial deployments within the United States. The newly raised capital will support manufacturing expansion, additional commercial deployment initiatives, development of U.S.-based production capacity, and continued advancement of the company’s core technology offerings. PCM maintains operations based in Newark, New Jersey.
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