German mining startup Hades, which aims to mine critical minerals and sell the energy generated, has raised €15m at a €67.5m valuation as the global rush for sovereign critical minerals heats up.
HV Capital and Headline co-led the round, joined by existing backers Project A and Visionaries Tomorrow. Hades is developing a laser-based drilling system to make it faster and cheaper for Europe to access minerals and geothermal energy.
The round comes shortly after the startup’s pre-seed fundraise in August. “We had a hell of a ride in the last six months,” cofounder and CEO Max Werner tells Sifted, adding that the company may plan another fundraise by the end of this year.
As geopolitical tensions mounted in 2026, so too did concerns around Europe’s dependence on imports of critical minerals and energy.
The EU is nearly entirely reliant on imports of critical raw minerals from countries like China. The US, meanwhile, recently announced a proposed critical minerals trading bloc as well as a plan for a $12bn stockpile of critical minerals. It’s also set its sights on getting in on the natural resources of Greenland.
“We see huge interest from politicians and decision makers outside of this space, and we can't even help ourselves by all the interest that we are getting from all directions,” Werner says, adding that critical minerals were “pretty much in everyone's head” at a Davos event he attended earlier this year.
“In the last six months, it has become even more difficult in geopolitical terms, and enabling Europe to have its own extraction capabilities for geothermal energy, but also for critical minerals, is as important as it was on day one,” Werner says.
The new seed round was prompted by some recent technological advances in Hades’ lab. The startup was able to successfully test three key parts of its operations, Werner reports: rock destruction capabilities of its laser, purging capabilities to clear the lava from the borehole and delivering 200 kilowatts of energy with the help of an unnamed European partner company.
‘Europe is incredibly vulnerable’
Hades will use the funding to ramp up hiring. As of December, the startup had 11 employees, and plans to grow to 36 by the end of 2026. It will also invest in a new workshop as well as lasers and machines for its operations.
Werner says the startup aims to have its first operational site by 2029; the company is in talks for four projects at various stages, he adds.
"This multi-polar world order that we are currently seeing forming right in front of us doesn't use the dollar as a method of power anymore," Werner says. It's now based on access to raw minerals and resources, he says.
That puts Europe in a bad spot with its dependence on other countries. “Europe [is] incredibly, incredibly vulnerable in terms of negotiations at the moment, and that's what we see on the global table,” he says. “We are a liability.”
For now, Hades is focusing on things more within its control. Werner says the startup’s “ultimate goal” by the end of this year is to drill 10 meters down with 200 kilowatts of energy.
