It’s been one year since we first launched Triad Inno’s Startups to Watch. The feature is a key component of the Triad Inno platform, highlighting local startups that will help move this region forward. Now, we’re checking in with each of the inaugural members to see how they delivered in 2022.
Minerva Lithium
Year founded: 2020
No. of employees: Six
Top executives: Sheeba Dawood, CEO/co-founder; Hemali Rathnayake, co-founder
Address: 2901 E. Gate City Blvd., Greensboro 27401
Phone: 336-217-5157
Website: minervalithium.com
Minerva Lithium, a startup developing a filtration technology to better extract lithium from water, had a busy 2022 – particularly in the two-month period between September and November.
In a matter of weeks, the UNC-Greensboro spinoff was awarded $112,000 from three different pitch competitions: $2,000 from the Triad’s own ConvergeSouth Conference in September; $10,000 from the Innovation Challenge at the Defense TechConnect Innovtion Summit and Expo and $100,000 as the top prize in the Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch’s Disrupt conference in San Francisco.
By early 2023, the company hopes to raise $10 million. CEO and co-founder Sheeba Dawood said the fundraise is occurring in two separate rounds, with an initial raise of $2.5 million that was expected to close in December and a second raise of $7.5 million expected to close in March.
Dawood already knows what it will do with part of the $10 million. With approximately $2.5 million, Minerva Lithium plans to expand its portfolio to tap into a new revenue stream that will produce returns more immediately – processing low-grade lithium into battery-grade. Minerva Lithium expects to achieve revenue generation in 2023 through the expansion of its portfolio, as the lithium extraction and filtration is not expected to produce revenue until 2024 or 2025.
Minerva has previously received a $256,000 National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant in August 2021 and a $75,000 One North Carolina Small Business Program grant from September 2022.
Co-founder Hemali Rathnayake said Minerva Lithium has been wrapping up its SBIR Phase I grant as it progresses toward pilot testing of its proprietary lithium-trapping filter. The company will submit for a Phase II grant in early 2023 and is hiring three more employees, bringing its headcount up to nine.
In addition to winning pitch competitions, Minerva Lithium has received other validation of its technologies this past year. In October, DigitalMara named the company one of eight prominent startups that are creating sustainable innovations. Minerva Lithium also announced that it was accepted to the Newchip Accelerator program.
