Porto’s Seamoretech secures €1.1 million to turn desalination brine into freshwater and critical minerals

What happened

Seamoretech, a Porto-based CleanTech startup that converts desalination brine into freshwater and critical minerals, has secured €1.1 million in the first closing of its Seed round.

The first closing has also brought the total amount raised to €3 million.

This system is designed to integrate into existing plant infrastructure without requiring operational downtime or upfront capital expenditure from plant operators. The round saw participation from Rypples, 7Seas Capital, and Crédito Agrícola, bringing together investors with experience in OceanTech and ClimateTech industries.

Founded in 2021 by Delgado and Eva Sousa as a spin-off of the University of Porto’s Faculty of Engineering (FEUP), Seamoretech tackles brine, the highly concentrated saline waste stream that industries have long treated as a liability and discarded into the ocean. The startup’s proprietary brine valorisation technology recovers purified freshwater and high-value minerals, including magnesium, calcium, copper, and lithium, from the waste stream.

The technology relies on a containerised, plug-and-play system that operates with a forward osmosis process to achieve Zero Liquid Discharge, meaning nothing is returned to the ocean.