Nanomox secures £2.4M seed round
London-based Imperial College spinout Nanomox has raised £2.4 million in seed funding, combining equity and grants, to scale a materials platform that can both manufacture advanced metal oxides and recover valuable metals from industrial waste. The round was led by TSP Ventures and Boast Trading LLC, with participation from Imperial College Enterprise Fund 3, SNØCAP VC, the Circular Innovation Fund, EIT RawMaterials, and a group of UK angel investors.
The financing includes support via the Innovate UK Investor Partnership programme. Nanomox said the capital will help it scale production to tonnes per month—volumes intended to enable reliable supply to cosmetics partners ahead of a first commercial launch planned for Q3 2026.
Building “Catalyst 1” pilot plant
Proceeds will be used to establish Catalyst 1, the company’s first commercial pilot plant and R&D facility. The site is expected to support early production runs while accelerating development of its broader materials platform.
Ionic liquid chemistry and circular metals recovery
Founded in 2020 at Imperial by Dr Francisco Malaret and Jason Hallett, Nanomox is built around a proprietary process using ionic liquid chemistry to produce metal oxide particles with tight control over crystallinity, shape and size—properties that can be critical for UV protection, electronics and catalytic applications. The company says the approach runs under mild conditions and can require significantly less energy than conventional routes.
In parallel, the same platform is designed to recover metals such as zinc, manganese and copper from waste streams including spent batteries, mining tailings and steelmaking residues. A key target is electric arc furnace dust, which is often discarded despite being zinc-rich; Nanomox estimates the recoverable zinc in this waste globally could be worth up to $9 billion.
Executive and investor comments
“Our unique ionic liquid platform can create nanoparticles tuned for high performance in high-value applications,” said Dr Francisco Malaret, Founder and CEO of Nanomox. “With the same platform, we can recover valuable raw materials from waste sources and mineral ores.”
Mike Doswell, co-founder at TSP Ventures, said the company is entering the market with “a scalable, low-carbon platform” aimed at producing high-performance materials while recovering critical minerals.
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