Why should your company apply?
Participants selected for this cohort receive exclusive benefits, including:
• Up to $250,000 in non-dilutive funding in the form of technical assistance from NLR, working in close collaboration with Shell subject matter experts (SMEs).
• Access to world-class researchers and facilities at NLR, including the new Energy Materials and Processing at Scale (EMAPS) facility, which provides capabilities necessary to accelerate the scale-up of early-stage innovations into market-relevant solutions for the critical minerals supply chain.
• Exposure and opportunity to connect with NLR’s network of 600+ investors who have
deployable capital ready for the right innovations.
• National and local business media attention generated through your participation in the program.
Is your technology within scope?
GCxN is specifically looking for technologies that align with the following criteria (for further details on scope, please refer to the program’s technical scope.
• Feedstocks of Interest: Liquid streams, mine waste, and mineral-rich streams (excluding ores).
• Technical Areas & Qualifiers:
• Targeted exploration and/or resource characterization.
• Electrically driven processes, or those utilizing waste heat or geothermal energy.
• Transferable technologies (e.g., separations).
• Bioprocesses.
• Innovations offering significant cost, carbon, and/or energy intensity advantages.
• A viable path to market within 5–10 years.
• Products of interest: Copper, aluminum, cobalt, nickel, molybdenum, tungsten, rare earths, silver, platinum group metals, drop-in replacements
How to Apply?: GCxN is a referral-only program; you must work through us to be officially referred as an applicant. The referral deadline is June 19, 2026. If you believe your startup is a fit, please reply directly to this email so we can start the referral process.
For any specific questions about the program itself, feel free to contact GCxN@nlr.gov.