Founders Factory and Rio Tinto have picked five new entries into their Mining Tech Accelerator cohort. The newcomers were “leveraging frontier technologies – AI, quantum computing and deep science – to unlock new sources of value across the mining value chain”, Founders and Rio said.
US-based Cascade Geomatics, Fieldstone and Determinant Materials, Chile’s NanduX and the blueprint mining intelligence platform of Australia’s Imvelo are the latest inductees.
They build out the Mining Tech Accelerator portfolio to 29 ventures.
“The mining sector is attracting a new generation of founders and their technology is helping to build a more efficient, cleaner and safer industry,” Founders Factory president George Northcott said.
“We’re excited to invest in this cohort, help them validate their approaches with Rio Tinto and commercialise their solutions.”
Two years into the accelerator program, Founders Factory and Rio say two-thirds of MTA portfolio start-ups have trialled technology, are trialling or are in contract with the miner.
According to the accelerator partners, cohort founders “have direct access to Rio Tinto’s executive leadership, senior managers and technical experts, advanced mining operations in Western Australia and structured pathways to secure pilots and proof-of-concept deployments”.
“All founders will come to Perth to develop their relationships with Rio Tinto and the Western Australian ecosystem.
“Beyond Rio Tinto the program supports start-ups in building commercialisation pathways with government partners across Australia, the US and Canada and facilitates access to banks and capital markets providers.”
