Element3 Founder and CEO Hood Whitson [Photo: Element3]

Fort Worth-based Element3 has announced the close of its Series A funding round led by TO VC, with a co-lead syndicate including EIC Rose Rock and Cubit Capital.

Element3, a critical materials extraction company pioneering lithium recovery from oil and gas wastewater, said the funding will enable it to deploy its first extraction plants on Double Eagle’s water infrastructure by the end of this year, positioning it as “the first new lithium extraction player to reach commercialization in the United States.”

Financial details of the funding round were not disclosed.

Extracting ‘battery-grade’ lithium from oil & gas wastewater

“This funding accelerates our mission to build American lithium independence from the ground up,” founder and CEO Hood Whitson said in a statement. “We recognize the urgency required to secure the U.S. supply chain. While other U.S. projects are still in the planning stages and on a long time horizon, we’re bringing our plants online and preparing to ship commercial product this year. By extracting lithium from existing oilfield infrastructure, we’re creating the materials for tomorrow’s economy from today’s waste—this is allowing us to be faster, cleaner, and more capital-efficient than any alternative.”

Founded in 2021, Element3 said its breakthrough technology addresses a critical gap in America’s supply chain independence by extracting battery-grade lithium from the Permian Basin’s produced water—transforming what had been considered waste into a strategic national resource.

Tapping ‘an unconventional resource’

The company said that with its lithium carbonate plant currently installed in the Permian Basin, Element3’s vertically integrated operation is poised to deliver lithium carbonate at a key time for U.S. energy security and the global energy transition.

The U.S. oil and gas industry generates more than 1 trillion gallons of wastewater annually, containing an estimated 250,000 tons of lithium carbonate, the company noted. That’s over half of the projected U.S. supply deficit by 2030.

Element3 said many global projects face decade-long development cycles and multi-billion-dollar capital requirements, but Element3 taps into existing oilfield infrastructure and available feedstock. The company said that approach eliminates major bottlenecks, shortens time-to-market, and delivers a scalable, low-carbon domestic supply at a moment when the nation’s demand for secure critical materials is surging.

Securing lithium raw material

“So much capital has been invested in the midstream and downstream steps of the Li-ion value chain to onshore battery manufacturing capacity, but very little has been done on the upstream to secure lithium raw material,” Joshua Phitoussi, managing partner at TO VC, said in a statement. “This is partly because it takes billions of dollars and many years to bring the average lithium project online,” 

Phitoussi highlighted the innovative approach, saying, “At current prices, it simply doesn’t pencil out to build capacity from conventional resources.”

He added, “Element3 has been purpose-built, from its technology to its cap table, to convert oil & gas produced water—an unconventional resource—into an immediately available and abundant resource.

“What this means is that Element3 will be the first DLE company to get to commercial scale and could become a top three domestic lithium producer within the next three years. We are so excited to be joining them on this journey,” 

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