Monash University spinout ElectraLith has raised $27.5 million to advance a pilot plant for the production of an key lithium battery input, attracting investment from local and overseas deep tech funds and institutional investors.
ElectraLith’s membrane technology can produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide by directly extracting lithium from several non-ore sources without water or chemicals, and less energy than traditional processes.
The Series A raise, announced on Thursday, was led by Main Sequence with support from California-based In-Q-Tel, Breakthrough Victoria, Chevron Technology Ventures, Fathom Fund, Vista Energy and Marathon Petroleum.
The oversubscribed funding round also received follow-on investment from Rio Tinto, IP Group and Monash University, which seeded the company in 2022.

The electro-membrane and electrodialysis Direct Lithium Extraction and Refining (DLE-R) technology produces lithium hydroxide as its final product without any intermediary steps.
In August, ElectraLith completed a proof of concept that demonstrated that its technology could directly extract lithium from a range of sources like salar brines, geothermal oilfield brines and spodumene leach in locations across the US, Argentina and Australia.
Other DLE technologies generally require further processing to produce a usable lithium chloride product, according to the company.
Now that its Series A investment has been finalised, ElectraLith will develop and install its first field-deployed pilot plant. The Melbourne-based startup was reportedly expected to finalise its raise in the last week of November 2024.
ElectraLith chief executive Charlie McGill said “the quality, breadth and scope of the Series A investor syndicate provides the strongest signal yet of DLE-R’s full potential”.
Rio Tinto chief advisor for battery minerals and ElectraLith director Travis Baroni said the mining giant continues to see the potential of ElectraLith’s technology to significantly reduce the economic cost and environmental impact of lithium production” and is keen to trial the pilot in the near future.
As of last August, ElectraLith and Rio Tinto were expecting to trial and test the first DLE-R prototype at Rio Tinto’s Rincon Project in Argentina in 2026.
In-Q-Tel investor Olivia Jones said the CIA-founded investment fund is “excited to support ElectraLith in advancing DLE technology”, which could help “unlock otherwise unviable resources and to bring refining closer to the source”.
Meanwhile, Main Sequence investment manager Jun Qu stressed that “traditional lithium extraction is creating an unsustainable burden for our planet”.
“ElectraLith’s solution is not only far more sustainable, but also has the potential to disrupt the cost curve for lithium production. We are excited to support the ElectraLith team and are eager to see the transformative impact they will have on the lithium supply chain, Mr Qu said.
China currently dominates lithium processing activity and earlier this month announced it is considering placing export controls on some lithium extraction and processing technologies.
Australia currently has two operating battery-grade lithium hydroxide were the beneficiaries of federal and Western Australian state government support last year amid falling prices and low demand.
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