Open Mineral operates a digital trade platform for base metal commodities.

With most of the global $200 billion metal raw commodities business still conducted in archaic paper mode, Switzerland-based Open Mineral is aiming to become the eBay for physical commodity producers by digitizing metal raw material trading. The firm announced Thursday its Series C raise of $33 million led by Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company. (Open Mineral)

New investors Statkraft Ventures and Lingfeng Capital also participated in the round alongside existing investors Xploration Capital and Emerald Technology Ventures.

Founded in 2017 by former Glencore traders Boris Eykher and Ilya Chernilovskiy, Open Mineral’s digital raw material platform has over 900 metals and mining companies from around the world registered on it.

The company has developed proprietary pricing algorithms that “drive broader value creation through the commodity supply chain.”

Its automated blending/smelter material optimization solutions enable more efficient, informed, and profitable trades of physical metal raw commodities, the company claims.

These digital capabilities would also support the metal and mining industries in their transition to a lower-carbon world, the startup said.

Digitizing the commodities business

“The metal trading industry’s future is in digital data and analytics enabling market participants to communicate faster and make quicker, and more data-driven decisions”, said Eykher, who is also CEO at Open Mineral.

“Open Mineral is disrupting the commodity trading business by leveraging data analytics technology,” said Faris Al Mazrui, Head of Russia and CIS Investments at Mubadala. “Buyers and sellers of base metal commodities can tap into a unique and proprietary data hub to trade more efficiently and capture upside.”

“We consider metal raw materials being the fundamental resource supporting the energy transition as well as powering the lithium-ion ‘battery rise,’ ” said Alexander Küppers, Managing Director at Statkraft Ventures on the reason for investing in Open Mineral.

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