On October 13, 2026, it was reported that Giraffe Bio, a mining biotechnology startup, completed a $6.4 million seed round, led by Orion Industrial Ventures, with participation from BHP Ventures, Twynam, Air Capital, and Baruch Future Ventures. The company develops customized chemicals tailored to different mineral compositions, integrated into existing flotation processes at mines, claiming up to a 5% increase in copper recovery—significantly exceeding the industry benchmark where a 1% to 2% improvement is typically considered valuable. Giraffe Bio employs bioreactors to cultivate engineered microbes for producing bespoke compounds, avoiding the need to maintain microbial viability directly within mine environments; the platform is also poised for expansion to other minerals such as gold and silver, and could potentially replace hazardous chemicals in certain flotation stages.