The Paris-based altrove, a deeptech startup, has raised €3.7 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Contrarian Ventures, with participation from Emblem and several angel investors. With this funding, Altrove plans to advance its core technology, targeting industries such as automotive, defense, and electronics. 

  • The company was founded in early 2024 by Joonatan Laulainen and Thibaud Martin, Altrove focuses on developing AI-driven materials to find optimal recipes for industrial-scale production. Their proprietary characterization technology aims to accelerate the discovery process significantly, aiming to replace elements like gallium, cobalt, and nickel.
  • Altrove has already begun collaboration with the sourcing, manufacturing, and R&D departments of customers in the automotive, defence and electronics sectors. It also works to replace piezoelectric materials used in sensors, touchscreens, energy harvesting, and many other industrial and customer technologies. 
Image by altrove:
Joonatan Laulainen and Thibaud Martin, co-founders of altrove

The round was led by an early-stage VC for climate generation, mobilising resources for climate action in Europe & Israel with offices in London, Vilnius, and Berlin. Founded in 2017 by ex-investment bankers Rokas Peciulaitis and Tomas Kemtys, Contrarian Ventures utilises a collaborative, founders-first approach to support future climate-oriented founders.

A key driver for our investment in Altrove is the team’s exceptional blend of industrial expertise and technological excellence. Having conducted over 100 customer interviews with leading component developers across Europe, they have developed a solution that truly bridges the gap between AI material discovery and industrial applications,

Rokas Peciulaitis, Founding Partner at Contrarian Ventures, said.

Emblem, Entrepreneur First and angel investors, including Thomas Clozel (CEO of Owkin), Julien Chaumond (CTO of Hugging Face ), and Nikolaj Deichmann (3Shape), also participated.

With this funding, Altrove plans to advance its core technology, targeting industries such as automotive, defense, and electronics. By collaborating with these sectors, Altrove aims to reduce dependency on rare earth elements and foster a more sustainable and autonomous supply chain.