Copper doesn’t exactly scream “sexy,” but without it, your EV is a brick, your grid is a paperweight, and the energy transition is a fantasy. Still Bright gets that. And they just hauled in $18.7 million in seed capital to prove copper can be pulled out of the ground cleaner, faster, and without the environmental baggage that’s been holding the industry hostage for a century.
Founded in 2022, Still Bright is the product of some serious chemical engineering horsepower. Chief Executive Officer Ranulfo (Randy) Allen PhD MBA isn’t just another tech founder with a pitch deck, he’s got a Stanford PhD, a Dartmouth MBA, and a track record of turning lab science into market reality. Chief Technology Officer Jon Vardner PhD built the company’s RACER technology straight out of Columbia University research, translating his electrochemistry work into a metal extraction process that runs at room temperature and ambient pressure. Add Chief Science Officer Alan West PhD, Columbia University professor and electrochemistry veteran, plus co-founder and adviser Scott Banta PhD, Chair of Columbia University’s Chemical Engineering Department, and you’ve got a founding brain trust that doesn’t need to bluff.
The RACER system, Rapid and Complete Electrochemical Reduction, is the kind of tech that makes smelters look like rotary phones. Traditional heap leaching drags on for months with mediocre recovery rates. RACER delivers 90 to 99 percent copper recovery in minutes to hours, powered by a vanadium-based electrolyte inspired by flow batteries. It’s modular, zero emission, and skips the toxic air pollutants that make smelting such a regulatory nightmare. Still Bright can process dirty concentrates, low-grade ores, even mine waste, exactly the material the industry has been writing off for decades.
Material Impact and Breakthrough Energy Ventures co-led the round, with Azolla Ventures, Fortescue, Impact Science Ventures, and SOSV (HAX) piling in. This isn’t just money, it’s a coalition of investors who understand that copper supply is the choke point in the clean energy race. The pilot plant in Newark is already pushing out two tons a year, with a 500-ton demonstration plant on deck for 2027-2028, and modular commercial systems designed to scale to 10,000 tons annually.
This funding is fuel for more than a plant, it’s the start of domestic copper refining that can compete on cost and crush on environmental standards. The U.S. exports roughly $3 billion in unrefined copper every year. Still Bright wants to keep that value at home, powered by clean electricity and process chemistry that doesn’t leave a toxic footprint. In a world sprinting toward electrification, the company isn’t just making copper. They’re making it possible to still be bright enough to see the road ahead.
