Lithosquare, a deeptech startup combining geological expertise with artificial intelligence, has raised €21.3 million ($25 million) in new funding.
The round was co-led by World Fund and Kindred Capital, with participation from Daphni, Omnes Capital, and Ovni Capital. The capital will be used to scale its platform for critical mineral exploration and accelerate the discovery of transition-essential resources.
What The Company Does
Founded in 2024 by Aymeric Préveral-Etcheverry, with Simon Leclair joining as COO, Lithosquare is building an AI-powered platform designed to improve the efficiency of mineral exploration. The system combines foundational AI models with geological science and real-world exploration data to help identify and prioritise promising mineral targets.
The platform supports exploration teams by generating potential deposit locations, improving targeting accuracy, and increasing confidence in drilling decisions. Rather than replacing geologists, it is designed to augment their work by reducing time spent on data processing and increasing focus on interpretation and field validation.
The company estimates that exploration workflows can be significantly accelerated, reducing analysis cycles from months to days while improving overall decision efficiency.
Advertisement
Market Context / Industry Background
Global demand for critical minerals is expected to rise sharply over the coming decades, driven by electrification, renewable energy expansion, and the growth of AI infrastructure. Metals such as lithium, copper, and nickel are central to batteries, power grids, and data centre hardware.
Lithosquare estimates that by 2040, supply gaps in key metals could reach hundreds of billions of euros, with lithium demand projected to increase by more than 400 percent and copper demand by around 50 percent. These pressures are compounded by the long timelines associated with traditional mineral exploration, which can take between seven and fifteen years from initial survey to discovery.
At the same time, existing supply chains remain concentrated, with limited geographic diversification in key raw materials. This has increased interest in technologies that can improve exploration efficiency and expand the pipeline of viable deposits.
Recent advances in AI-powered geoscience, satellite imaging, and machine learning models are enabling companies to identify promising geological formations with higher precision and lower exploration costs. This shift could significantly reduce the environmental footprint of early-stage exploration while improving success rates, particularly in underexplored regions where traditional surveying has been too slow or too expensive to deploy at scale and supporting more resilient global supply chains in the long term.
Founder / Investor Commentary
Chief executive Aymeric Préveral-Etcheverry said exploration has long been constrained by slow and manual data processing, which reduces the time available for geological analysis and fieldwork. He noted that Lithosquare was created to address this bottleneck by combining AI with geological science to improve the speed and accuracy of discovery.
He added that the platform is designed to support exploration teams in identifying deposits more efficiently and at scale, helping to strengthen supply chains critical to the energy transition.
Growth Plans / Use Of Funds
The new funding will be used to expand Lithosquare’s technical and geological teams, further develop its AI platform, and scale its operations across global mining markets. The company is already working with exploration partners in regions including the United States, Europe, Africa, and Latin America.
As part of its growth strategy, Lithosquare aims to improve targeting precision, reduce unnecessary drilling, and support more sustainable exploration practices by limiting wasted resources and emissions associated with failed exploration efforts.
About Lithosquare
Lithosquare is a Paris-based deeptech company developing AI-powered tools for mineral exploration. Founded in 2024, the company combines geological expertise with artificial intelligence to accelerate the discovery of critical minerals, helping exploration teams improve efficiency, reduce timelines, and support the global energy transition.
