Aspiring Materials wants to turn waste rock into economic gold
PLUS: Techweek25 kicks off soon, Daisy Lab makes protein breakthrough and are we ready for Theranos 2.0?
Good morning startup land,
Happy Tuesday!
Quite a green theme in the newsletter today, with two startups doing fascinating work which could both tackle massive environmental challenges and make some serious money while doing so.
We’re kicking off with a spotlight on Christchurch-based cleantech startup Aspiring Materials, in partnership with the team over at Ara Ake, showcasing how they’re turning a waste rock into economic gold.
Elsewhere in your Daily Shot of news:
Aspiring Materials wants to decarbonise the world by turning waste rock into economic gold
Techweek25 kicks off next week!
Auckland startup Daisy Lab makes dairy protein breakthrough
Pod pick: Girls that Invest: What happens when a cautious saver is forced into entrepreneurship and makes it work
Partner of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes reportedly raising millions for another blood testing startup
Keep your stories, subs and updates coming. We love what you’re building.
Got a press release, startup story, resource or founder you’d love to connect with the Caffeine audience? Drop me a line to finn@caffeinedaily.co
Finn and the Caffeine team
Ara Ake is New Zealand’s Future Energy Centre, with a mission to drive impactful change by supporting energy innovators through commercialisation support.
Our partnership with Aspiring Materials reflects this commitment, helping to create value from industrial bioproducts and tackle the pressing decarbonisation challenges of our time.
By supporting Aspiring Materials, Ara Ake showcases how New Zealand innovation is delivering real solutions to global challenges.
Aspiring Materials is paving the way for transformational change in how we handle mining waste, turning it into valuable outputs which can underpin sustainable industrial practices, unlock further green innovation and help New Zealand strengthen its reputation as a cleantech leader.
Aspiring Materials wants to decarbonise the world by turning waste rock into economic gold
What if a waste rock scattered across mine sites globally held the key to massive carbon reductions, green hydrogen generation, and more sustainable construction?
That’s the bet Christchurch-based cleantech startup Aspiring Materials is making and so far, they’re proving it might just work.
With an appropriately aspirational mission to ‘help decarbonize the world,’ Aspiring Materials is attacking the problem of industrial emissions at its almost literal bedrock.
The company’s unique process builds a circular system that turns discarded geological byproducts into usable, valuable materials.
“We’re making critical materials with no carbon,” Megan Danczyk, Aspiring’s Lead Chemical Process Engineer, told Caffeine. “These are materials used in huge quantities across the globe, and we’re replacing traditionally high-emissions versions with carbon-free alternatives.”
Industrial processes are among the largest contributors to global carbon emissions. Cement alone is responsible for roughly 8% of global CO₂ emissions, thanks to both the energy it consumes and the chemical processes involved in its production.
Magnesium compounds, widely used across industries, are also typically produced through carbon-intensive methods that release multiple tonnes of CO₂ per tonne of material created.
These emissions are baked into the foundations of how we build and power everything from cities to batteries. Aspiring Materials believes it can change that.
Its process begins with something the world has in abundance: magnesium silicate rock, often considered worthless overburden on mine sites. The startup has found a way to completely break this rock down and turn 100% of it into useful products without creating any new waste.
Most mineral extraction techniques target a small slice of valuable material and discard the rest, often with toxic or carbon-heavy leftovers. Aspiring does the opposite.
“We use the whole rock,” Danczyk explains. “We completely break it apart and turn it into usable products, like magnesium hydroxide and green hydrogen, without producing waste. And we do it all at low temperature and low pressure, which means we can do it carbon-free.”
The process begins with minimal energy milling of the rock, followed by a acid treatment. At the tail end is a custom electrolyzer that regenerates the acid and base used in the process while generating green hydrogen as a byproduct.
That hydrogen isn’t a side note but a genuine commercial opportunity. The global market for Green Hydrogen is expected to grow significantly in the next decade, reaching $62 billion by 2033.
Aspiring’s technology has already been tested over 2,000 continuous hours in their electrolyzer, and their pilot plant in Christchurch is now fully operational, capable of processing 250 kilograms of feedstock a day.
Each of Aspiring’s other core products also targets a high-demand, low-sustainability industry:
Reactive silica: Can replace up to 30% of cement binder, directly lowering the emissions of one of the world’s most-used materials.
Magnesium hydroxide: Typically produced through high-emission processes. Aspiring’s version is carbon-free and can also be used for carbon capture.
Nickel-cobalt-manganese hydroxide: high value critical minerals that are crucial to electrification yet currently produce about 18 million tonnes of CO2 per tonne of material and often through unethical mining practices.
Magnesium carbonate: The result of capturing CO₂ with their magnesium hydroxide, permanently storing the carbon in a verifiable form.
“We’re able to tap into a lot of different markets,” says Danczyk. “Which means there’s a huge financial incentive, and a global expansion opportunity.”
Aspiring’s headquarters in Christchurch isn’t just a matter of geography but a strategic choice.
“New Zealand, and especially the South Island, is a perfect match for us,” Danczyk says. “We need access to renewables to keep our process carbon-free. And NZ’s grid is already one of the cleanest in the world.”
The country’s energy mix, rich in hydro and geothermal, means Aspiring’s low-energy process doesn’t just emit less but starts green and stays green. They’ve tested three local sources of magnesium silicate rock, all of which work well in their process. And with end-users already expressing interest from within New Zealand’s industrial sectors, a domestic growth path is clear.
Aspiring is currently raising an $8 million USD round to scale their pilot plant to a continuous state and progress plans for their first commercial facility. With their core process now proven and stable, the team is focused on optimization and preparing for their next major scale-up.
They’re not looking to edge out other cleantech players, either. The team sees their work as a complementary layer to other climate innovations.
“There’s room for all of us. We can tag team with other startups in New Zealand,” Danczyk adds.
By working with the materials other industries leave behind, and turning them into critical inputs across multiple sectors, it feels like the kind of upstream innovation which could unlock many others.
Aspiring Materials doesn’t just offer another tool in the decarbonization toolbox. It’s the kind of moonshot cleantech startup New Zealand is uniquely positioned to support and one that could soon be playing a global role in the fight against climate change.
Techweek25 Launch: Collective Imagining - A brighter, tech-enabled future for Aotearoa: Back when I worked in TV news, tech week was always one of my favorite events in the calendar as it gave me an immediate news peg to all about the coolest, most transformational trends in the country and an excuse to not talk about whatever depressing bit of politics was happening that day.
Next week is the launch of Techweek25, as NZTech and Deloitte bring together visionary leaders and changemakers to explore how we can unlock New Zealand's potential through technology. The launch event in Auckland is sold out but there are events all across the country and touching on all different sectors and you should absolutely head on over to check out the full programme here. Don't miss this opportunity to be part of the conversation that will shape the future of technology in New Zealand.
Breakthrough from Daisy Lab in producing cow-free dairy protein: If I love two things in this world its advanced tech and applications of that tech to some of our greatest environmental challenges. Getting the benefits of animal protein without ruinous effects on our world is pretty high on that list and now Auckland-based startup Daisy Lab has hit a new milestone in producing high levels of a particular protein usually only produced by cows in a very bovine-less yeast host.
The protein, called lactoferrin, is normally found in low concentrations in cow’s milk but Daisy Lab have now beaten that by an order of magnitude through producing multiple grams of the protein in a yeast host instead. They use precision fermentation to genetically modify microorganisms to produce the protein without the need for cows. There is potentially immense commercial application for this tech, as lactoferrin is valuable for things like infant formula. If Daisy Lab can produce large quantities of it cheaper and in less environmentally impactful manner, it’s a win win. Check out more detail over at Green Queen here.
Pod pick: Girls that Invest: What happens when a cautious saver is forced into entrepreneurship—and makes it work? It’s been a while since we shouted out the exceptional Girls That Invest podcast and they’ve had some cracker eps in the past few weeks (The Buffet eps are both bangers). In the latest ep out today, Jessie Healy shares how she made her first million by combining smart property moves, a thriving digital agency, and a willingness to take calculated risks after being made redundant while seven months pregnant. From carrying Airbnb sheets across London to selling her agency and living mortgage-free in New Zealand, this is a story of hustle, perspective, and redefining success on your own terms.
Partner of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes reportedly raising millions for another blood testing startup: It’s what I can only describe as an exceptionally bold move and a true test of whether there is a such a thing as bad publicity, the current partner of Theranos founder and convicted felon Elizabeth Holmes is reportedly raising millions for a new blood testing startup called Haemanthus, Greek for “blood flower”.
NPR broke the story which has quite a few saucy details (she’s reportedly advising him from behind bars?) but there is a non paywalled version here in the New York Post for those curious. Haemanthus has since denied the disgraced founder has had any involvement in the company but the similarities are…striking, lets say.
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Want to get in touch with a news tip, bit of feedback or just to chat? Email hello@caffeinedaily.co