Metal Morph raises pre-seed to recover valuable resources from wastewater

Metal Morph has raised a £700,000 pre-seed round to advance plans to turn water and wastewater plants into circular supply chains. The funding has come at a when supply chain disruption, stricter regulations, and rising costs have made access to critical resources more challenging than ever.

Recent disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz have heavily impacted aluminium, iron and chemical supply. On the demand side, regulatory updates in the EU and US will place a permanent, upward stress on water and wastewater treatment chemicals.

Against this backdrop, Metal Morph is helping to diversify the supply of industrial resources by recovering aluminium and iron-based chemicals from wastewater streams, reducing dependence on increasingly problematic primary supply chains.

Metal Morph was founded by Moletsane Mophethe, who experienced water scarcity firsthand during his childhood in Lesotho. These experiences, and witnessing the consequences of water scarcity for his local community, inspired him to make essential resources more accessible and affordable.

As Mophethe explains: “Growing up in a place where access to clean water was uncertain instilled within me an appreciation of how fragile access to essential resources can be. With Metal Morph, I want to help change that reality. Water infrastructure is one of the most overlooked industrial supply chains in the world. By harnessing them correctly, we are fundamentally reshaping the supply of essential chemicals to reduce the cost of water production.”

Metal Morph is an infrastructure-as-a-service solution that recovers valuable industrial resources from municipal and industrial wastewater. The first technology solution on offer recovers aluminium and iron-based treatment chemicals, which otherwise would have been discharged to sewer, sent to landfill or landspread. Recovering these chemicals enables water utilities and industrial operators to reduce costs, lower carbon emissions, and strengthen supply chain resilience. The recovered chemicals can then be reused in the same treatment process, creating a valuable circular system which turns waste into a reliable industrial resource. Future technology solutions by Metal Morph will look into recovering standalone metals from industrial wastewater and mining tailings.

The solution has already garnered notable interest. Partnerships with six UK water utilities are in place, including with both Anglian Water and Thames Water. Combined, these six agreements cover 56% of the UK water market. Furthermore, both the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society of Chemistry have recognised the potential of Metal Morph. The former granted Mophethe the 2024 Leaders in Innovation Fellowship, whilst the latter named Metal Morph as a finalist in its Emerging Technologies competition.

Metal Morph has also recently been awarded a £100k grant by Ofwat – the UK’s water services regulator – with a further £450k available over the coming months as milestones are met.

After completing 50+ live tests across three drinking water treatment plants, initial results look potentially transformative. They include:

• 90% recovery of spent treatment chemicals at 95% purity
• 26% reduction in coagulation-related operational costs
• 89% reduction in emissions associated with coagulant procurement

Josh Armistead-Wood, Investor at Sustainable Ventures, says: “Metal Morph addresses a critical blind spot in municipal and industrial infrastructure. Deployed successfully, the team will transform water and wastewater treatment processes into active resource recovery facilities, creating a brilliant circular economy in the process. It’s an urgently needed solution to an increasingly complex problem.”

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Using the newly secured funding, Metal Morph will accelerate its resource recovery technology, including the rollout of industry pilots and further validation from water utilities and industrial partners. Alongside UK plans, the team is exploring opportunities to expand into European markets, having held initial discussions with Accelerate Estonia about opportunities to demonstrate the technology at scale. Belgium-based water utility company Aquafin, which controls 60% of household wastewater treatment in the country, is also in discussions, following investment in the round by Aqcelerator, the corporate venture arm of the company.

Since the company was incorporated in 2025, Metal Morph has built a multidisciplinary team of nine, covering resource recovery, water infrastructure, commercialisation and scaling. This includes expertise from organisations such as Arup, Bloomberg, British Water, Deep Science Ventures, Imperial, and Stanford. This collection of industry expertise is now targeting the advancement of Metal Morph’s technology from laboratory testing to industrial deployment.

Cam Ross, CEO at Green Angel Ventures, says: “The early interest in Metal Morph reflects the growing pressure on water utilities and industrial operators to curb rising costs while improving sustainability. The company’s differentiated process enables the recovery of essential materials at high purity, with the potential to deliver meaningful commercial and environmental benefits across the water sector and beyond.”

Having already compiled early validation via industry partnerships and now pre-seed backing, Metal Morph is setting its sights towards the next phase of growth. As regulatory and economic pressures mount on traditional supply chains, Metal Morph is positioning itself at the forefront of a new circular infrastructure. One designed to not only strengthen resource security but also to deliver measurable operational and environmental benefits at scale.