Randy Allen on Revolutionizing Copper Production at Still Bright
In this latest edition of founder spotlight, Eqvista features Randy Allen, Co-Founder and CEO of Still Bright, a hard-tech startup transforming how the world produces one of its most critical resources: copper. Drawing on a deep background in chemical engineering, materials science, and venture investing, Randy is leading Still Bright’s mission to close the looming copper supply gap while dramatically reducing the environmental footprint of traditional mining and smelting.
In this interview, Randy shares how his journey as an entrepreneur, investor, and startup mentor prepared him to scale a breakthrough electrochemical process that can onshore copper production, cut emissions, and unlock value from previously uneconomical resources. He also discusses the company’s rapid progress, the technology behind Still Bright’s RACER system, and the capital-efficient strategy that helped secure an $18.7 million seed round in a market hungry for sustainable critical minerals solutions.
Allen, as a seasoned entrepreneur with a deep background in chemical engineering and venture capital, what inspired you to co-found Still Bright and focus specifically on transforming copper production for a more sustainable future?
Given the huge, global problems we are all facing, I feel compelled to play my part to solve them. I couldn’t remain on the sidelines when I can actively contribute to getting groundbreaking technology out into the world. With my materials science background, ensuring we have enough of the key materials that drive the world resonated strongly with me. There are many critical minerals that are forecast to have severe supply gaps but copper is the most irreplaceable and impactful on all parts of the economy, from access to energy to the cost of housing to deployment of artificial intelligence.
My co-founder, Jon, has invented an approach that can not only increase the amount of copper in the market but can disrupt the current copper supply trends altogether. This was a unique opportunity for a paradigm shift in material extraction, to be able to onshore copper production in a cheap but safer manner such that copper resource owners and the local community could all sufficiently benefit.
How did your experience as an investor and startup mentor prepare you for scaling Still Bright’s technology and business?
My experiences from all aspects of the entrepreneurial journey has been extremely useful for building up Still Bright. I learned many of the ways that a startup can fail from my previous startup and have ensured that Still Bright is better set up for success both financially and structurally. I have been able to mentor dozens of startups, helping them to navigate fundraising and operational challenges that plague all entrepreneurs.
I have seen many methods that have worked well but have also learned significantly from those that did not. This crafted the immediate operational priorities that we had as I joined the company in Q1 2025. This has allowed us to double in size, now to 12 people and has put an on-site demo deployment in sight within a couple of years.
Still Bright’s RACER technology is unique in copper extraction. Could you explain the breakthrough electrochemical process that sets Still Bright apart from traditional smelting methods?
Sulfur passivation has made it difficult to process primary copper sulfides. Extreme conditions are usually necessary to overcome this. Traditionally, copper sulfides are first concentrated to about 25% copper and then heated up to 1200°C. This leads to rapid copper extraction rates due to the production of gaseous sulfur, in the form of sulfur dioxide, which prevents a passivation layer but unfortunately is hugely problematic as its release leads to acid rain. We have taken the benefits of gaseous sulfur and combined them with closed reaction vessels via electrochemical-aided reactions at ambient pressure and temperature. Our unique process involves an electrochemically produced vanadium ion that reduces copper to a solid, native copper, converts the bound iron to ferrous sulfate, and transforms the sulfur to gaseous hydrogen sulfide and ultimately to sulfuric acid. This process avoids creation of any passivation layers and thus has reaction rates on par with smelting.
Creating the additional co-products is highly differentiated but essential for minimizing operational expenditures and gaining widespread acceptance. This is especially true with being a net producer of sulfuric acid given that smelters are similarly producers of sulfuric acid. One other critical benefit of our approach is that it is immediately scalable since we are leveraging vanadium flow battery technologies to regenerate our vanadium ion reagent. Regenerating and recirculating vanadium is key for us to continuously and economically recover copper.
Could you please explain to us how your technology addresses the environmental and permit challenges associated with copper production in the U.S.?
Traditional environmental challenges include water contamination, heavy water usage, and air pollution, especially from sulfur dioxide and fugitive dust. Permitting challenges can be further complicated by legal and judicial challenges by local communities and environmental groups. Actually resolving the environmental challenges and earning the trust of all stakeholders including the local communities and environmental groups will be necessary to facilitate the production of all the copper needed in the next couple of decades.
We address these challenges by using closed reactor systems and operating at ambient pressure and temperature. This allows us to easily capture and convert gaseous sulfur to commodities and allows us to treat highly toxic elements like arsenic. By avoiding the release of toxic pollutants that get released during smelting, Still Bright’s technology can easily comply with waste regulations and allow for on-site copper production within the U.S..
By providing greater value and minimizing harm to the local environment, we aim to supply sufficient value to the local community. And lastly, by combining an emissions reduction of several tons of CO2e per ton of copper with the indirect emission savings of enabling the energy transition, we plan to get the buy-in of environmental groups.
What are some of the biggest technical hurdles you have had to overcome to demonstrate the viability of your rapid copper recovery process?
We have had to overcome many challenges along the way. Achieving semi-batch and continuous production were both large feats. This was essential for being viable for the immense scale of copper mining. We also have expanded our compatible feedstocks, going beyond copper concentrates to include dirty concentrates, waste streams, and mixed ore. These additional options allow for maximum recovery of copper at low cost.
Ultimately, the cost of production per ton of copper will be the deciding factor for implementation at most copper mines.
Could you share insights about your target market sectors and how Still Bright fits into the broader trend of electrification and clean energy?
Copper is the primary conductor of electricity and thus a necessary component for the electrification of everything. However, the supply of copper is projected to be short of the increasing demand. This is why we are targeting methods to quickly increase the amount of copper that can be brought to market. Significant copper goes to waste from currently operating mines. Sources of waste include mixed ore that would require significant additional processing, copper lost to concentrators via flotation, and copper lost during the smelting process. Recovering these copper resources is a near-term priority. We also want to enable improved recovery for polymetallic mines, like copper/molybdenum and copper/gold mines to bring more value to the resource owners.
Lastly, we are also focusing on enabling the recovery of copper from high-impurity, high-grade orebodies. There are several elements, like lead and arsenic, that reduce the viability of certain orebodies and we can uniquely manage these deleterious elements while maximizing copper recovery.
What potential cost savings or return on investment can mining companies expect from adopting your technology compared to traditional smelting?
There are significant savings from using our technology rather than smelting. Without the need to build huge chimney stacks with scrubbers for capturing sulfur dioxide, we have significant savings on capital expenditures. We have maximized these savings by using smaller reactors with short residence times. This allows us to have 70-90% CapEx savings compared to a smelter. We also are implementing a modular system that removes the need for difficult maintenance schedules that require full shut downs. We have a larger uptime that differentiates our production capacity. Additionally, there are many copper resources that are not readily amenable to smelting.
By widening what can be economically recovered, we would further increase the production of copper for anyone considering building a smelter. Our operating expenses can be minimized with our production of high-grade co-products. Depending on what is recovered, we can cheaper operating expenses as well. However, it is important to note that our technology is not just for those considering building a smelter. There is significant unrealized value from copper in waste streams and valuable but not payable elements within concentrates that we can recover. Reliance on third-party, foreign smelters will be reduced with our technology.
Sustainability is central to your mission. How does Still Bright contribute to climate goals beyond just copper production?
To produce the amount of copper we need in the coming decades, a more environmentally friendly approach is necessary. Enabling more rapid permitting with buy-in from local communities is the only path to producing the needed copper given the large scale of the projected supply shortfall. Outside of producing more copper, our more environmentally friendly approach also means no toxic pollution associated with copper production, fewer carbon emissions from processing at ambient temperatures, and more value to the local community.
We also aim to reduce the need for flotation as a process step, which would reduce the amount of water needed for copper processing by at least 90%. With water being a constraint for agriculture and AI deployment, reducing the burden for mining would be very impactful.
Congratulations on closing an $18.7 million seed round. Can you share the key factors that enabled Still Bright to attract such strong investor interest in this round?
We are proud of the syndicate we were able to form with our Seed round. There are multiple reasons why we are able to achieve this. We have aimed to make Still Bright highly investable due to the various capital efficient pathways to exits. Having multiple exit offramps on the way to the prioritized exit helps to mitigate the risk profile of a startup. Critical minerals are also having a moment with large demands to secure their supply chains. Ultimately, having a great team, in a hot market, with a unique value proposition that not only produces a market-ready product but does so while increasing yields.
Most startups focusing on commodities are only trying to compete on sustainability plus price parity. Unlocking differential revenue, however, is what is required to rapidly acquire customers. This type of story should generate significant investor interest but realizing a good investor syndicate, however, also requires strong relationships with each partner. Fortunately, we have had the time to build those relationships prior to the round.
What advice do you have for founders trying to scale hard tech startups with complex scientific innovations?
My general advice is to go beyond beating out the incumbent on cost. The marginal difference is usually only realized at scale, which makes the path to exit very capital intensive. A race to the bottom is a tough journey and faces impossible asks for customers during the scaling process. Instead, create a product that also increases the willingness to pay in a real way. Most resort to green branding, but this has proven to not be sufficient for widespread adoption. You need to prove clear, tangible value that is also addressing a pain. It is difficult to get all of these parameters in any one startup, but without this type of story, you will likely fall prey to relatively more attractive startups especially in a down market.
Focusing on organic growth with tangible sales is a viable alternative to the capital intensive, VC-funded paths. Seriously explore if alternative paths are available to you before committing to the endless treadmill of quick progress and equity financing.
