Paris-based Lithosquare raises €21.3 million to accelerate critical…

Team S · 2026-05-07T14:01:15.000Z

Lithosquare, a Paris-based startup using AI and geological science to speed up the discovery of critical minerals, has raised €21.3 million ($25 million) in seed funding. The round was co-led by World Fund and Kindred Capital, with participation from Daphni, Omnes Capital, and Ovni Capital. The company was founded in 2024 by mining engineer Aymeric Préveral-Etcheverry, with Simon Leclair joining shortly after as founding COO. Both spent years in mineral exploration before deciding the process needed to be rebuilt from the ground up. Lithosquare's platform combines foundational AI with science-based geological models of the subsurface — going beyond pattern recognition to understand how mineral deposits actually form underground, enabling more accurate targeting of where to drill for copper, lithium, nickel, and other critical metals. The problem the company is addressing is one of scale and time. Today, getting from an initial exploration idea to a confirmed deposit typically takes 7 to 15 years, with geologists spending up to 80% of their time on data processing rather than actual geological interpretation. Lithosquare claims its platform can compress those analysis timelines from months to days, improving exploration efficiency by up to 10x. Rather than replacing geologists, the platform is designed to augment them — freeing expert teams to focus on fieldwork and interpretation rather than manual data processing. The urgency is significant. By 2040, the supply gap for critical metals like copper, lithium, and nickel could reach €299 billion ($350 billion), according to the company, with lithium demand alone projected to grow by over 400% and copper by around 50%, driven by EV batteries, AI data centres, and grid infrastructure. More than 1,000 new mineral deposits will need to be discovered to meet that demand — a target that recycling alone cannot achieve. Lithosquare plans to use the funding to grow its team of geologists and AI engineers, continue platform development, and expand globally. The company is already working with exploration and mining partners across the US, Europe, Africa, and Latin America, and recently announced its first partnership with UK-based mining company Aterian.

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Paris-based Lithosquare raises €21.3 million to accelerate critical… | Newnex