AT&T agrees to $2 billion sale of Mexican business
Grupo Televisa and Fintech Holdings will buy the unit through an equally owned consortium, with closing expected in the first quarter of 2027.
Giraffe Bio secures $6.4 million seed round to advance copper extraction
The startup says compounds matched to each mine’s mineral content could increase copper recovery by up to 5%.
Orion Industrial Ventures has led a $6.4 million seed investment in Giraffe Bio, which is developing biotechnology-based chemicals for copper extraction. The startup raised the money to move its technology beyond laboratory work. Other investors included BHP Ventures, Twynam, Air Capital and Baruch Future Ventures.
Giraffe Bio says tailoring its compounds to the mineral composition of individual mines could allow operators to recover up to 5% more copper. Its approach uses a bioreactor, where engineered microbes manufacture the compounds, rather than putting bacteria directly onto ore. The resulting chemicals can be added to processes mines already use.
The compounds work in flotation, a process that separates minerals in water. Chemicals influence which materials rise and which settle, letting operators collect desired minerals from the surface. More precise binding to target minerals improves recovery. Co-founder and CEO Alejandro Buffo Sempé said Giraffe Bio is also developing depressors, which make unwanted substances such as arsenic sink.
Copper is the company’s initial focus, though it says the platform can be adapted for gold and silver. Buffo Sempé said its biomolecules could also perform the functions of environmentally harmful chemicals used in flotation, replacing those substances.