Mint Innovation appoints LanzaTech founder Sean Simpson to board

Cleantech innovator Mint Innovation has appointed LanzaTech founder Dr Sean Simpson to its board of directors as it expands globally.

The seven-year-old company uses low-carbon technology to extract 'green' metals from electronic waste to accelerate local, circular supply. 

It launched the world’s first commercial-scale e-waste biorefinery in Sydney last year, and the 2023 InnovationAus award winner intends to extend its technology to break down other harmful waste streams.  

Having closed out a Series C round of $65 million earlier this year, the company says it is well-equipped for rapid expansion into key global markets, including the US, UK and Europe, while keeping its headquarters in Auckland. 

Simpson, who brings 20 years’ experience commercialising pioneering technology platforms for sustainable fuels, chemicals and proteins, is expected to fuel Mint Innovation’s growth strategy. 

"All our people believe that they can change the world, and Sean is a man who, in his past roles, has been involved in developing solutions that have changed the world," says Mint Innovation board chair Catherine Drayton. 

In 2005, Simpson co-founded the carbon recycling company LanzaTech in Auckland, which transforms pollution into valuable raw materials for reuse. The company, with Simpson, moved its headquarters to Chicago in 2014. 

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Mint Innovation's founder and CEO, Dr Will Barker, spent seven years working with Simpson as vice-president of external affairs at LanzaTech. Barker left and founded Mint Innovation when the company moved to the US. 

Simpson returned to New Zealand early this year but continues to serve as strategic advisor for LanzaTech, having been involved in the company’s  NASDAQ listing in 2022. 

He is also on the boards of deeptech startup Nilo, drone startup Dotterel Technologies and startup incubator Outset Ventures.  

"I have a longstanding interest and experience in the waste-to-value space but also in the starting and scale-up of technologies," says Simpson. 

He’s not an investor in Mint Innovation but describes himself as an "active cheerleader".

"Mint Innovation has many similarities to LanzaTech as well as some unique opportunities, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to share my experience with Mint's executive team as they globalise their technology," he says. 

He replaces Ross Peat, who served seven years on Mint Innovation's board, which he joined following Icehouse Ventures’ seed investment in 2016. 

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Changing of the 'boards'

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Establishing and setting up a board is an integral part of startup life. However, knowing when a board requires rejuvenation is another kettle of fish. 

Simpson says that for companies looking to be global players like Mint Innovation, continuous change is a must. 

"The only thing that should ever stay the same in a company looking to develop, scale and then commercialise a deeptech solution like this is the rate of change.”

Changing boards indicates progress towards that final outcome, he says. 

Barker says appointing Simpson to the board reflects the company reaching the next stage in its journey of global expansion. 

Investors are a "big part" of boards in the early days, but as a company reaches liquidity or expands into global markets, the role of a board evolves, requiring specific skill sets, values and experience, he says. 

Simpson was selected because he possessed "all three," says Drayton. 

"There's some real substantive experience in scaling and getting to a liquidity event that Sean brings, besides which he's just a thoroughly decent chap with a good sense of humour,” she says. 

Although the company is diverse and filled with big personalities, it is united because its people are purpose led and values driven, she says.

Simpson is positive for the future of cleantech in New Zealand, which attracted 22 percent of the deeptech funding in this country in the first half of 2023, according to the latest Young Company Finance data.

"We have lots of opportunities to apply cleantech locally that perhaps we haven't leveraged in the past. Now there is a climate imperative to leverage,” he says. 

Recovering waste, he says, and turning it into value and monetising it is part of that. 

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