In the quiet plains of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, a nine-year-old company is betting that the next American gold rush will be black. Not oil, but a fine, concentrated powder of cobalt, nickel, lithium, and manganese, reclaimed from the spent batteries of our electric cars and discarded gadgets. Blue Whale Materials calls its product Blacksand®, and its first commercial-scale facility is designed to process 14,000 metric tons of lithium-ion batteries a year, turning a waste stream into a domestic supply of critical minerals [Blue Whale Materials, 2025]. The company’s recent $55.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy is less a subsidy and more a down payment on a very specific, very physical bet: that the unit economics of domestic recycling can beat the cost of mining new materials overseas [Crunchbase, Sep 2024].
The wedge is domestic supply
The pitch is straightforward. As the U.S. builds out its electric vehicle and battery manufacturing base, a glaring vulnerability remains the supply of key battery metals, which are largely mined and processed abroad. Blue Whale’s entire operation is structured to insert itself into that gap. It collects end-of-life batteries, safely discharges them, and processes them into Blacksand®, a mixed metal intermediate that can be sold to refiners to make new battery cathodes [Blue Whale Materials]. The company’s facility in Bartlesville and its testing lab in Greenfield, Indiana, are tangible assets in a capital-intensive industry where having shovels in the ground is the only proof that matters.
A grant as a growth catalyst
Blue Whale’s funding story is atypical for a venture-scale climate tech company. Rather than a parade of Sand Hill Road investors, its largest disclosed infusion is a $55.2 million federal grant, part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s battery manufacturing program [Crunchbase, Sep 2024]. This has brought its total disclosed funding to roughly $80 million [PitchBook, 2026]. For a capital-hungry industrial business, a non-dilutive grant of that size is a powerful accelerant. It allows the company to scale its physical operations,the company expects the grant to support up to 90 jobs in Bartlesville,without immediately answering to venture capital timelines on profitability [Blue Whale Materials, Sep 2023]. The leadership team, led by CEO Robert Kang and Chief Strategy Officer David Fauvre, has leveraged this public capital to build its flagship asset [Bloomberg, 2019] [ZoomInfo].
| Role | Name | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Chief Executive Officer | Robert Kang | Co-founder, leads overall strategy [Bloomberg, 2019]. |
| Chief Strategy Officer | David Fauvre | Co-founder, leads business development [ZoomInfo]. |
| Vice President of Sales | Jeremy Livingstone | Leads commercial efforts [LinkedIn]. |
| Chief Technology Officer | Minjae “Justin” Oh | Oversees all battery processing technology [Blue Whale Materials team page]. |
The path to proving unit economics
The company is now entering its most critical phase: moving from project development to consistent commercial operation. Its Bartlesville facility was scheduled to begin operations in the first quarter of 2025, with a full battery recycling line from cells to packs slated for early 2026 [Recycling International]. Public partnerships, like its strategic link with battery collection giant Call2Recycle and a letter of intent with materials firm Alus, signal an intent to secure both feedstock and offtake [BusinessWire, 2024-12]. Yet, for all the physical infrastructure and partnership announcements, the commercial case remains unproven at scale. The recycling industry is crowded with well-funded players like Ascend Elements and Cirba Solutions, all chasing the same incoming wave of battery waste.
The core challenge for Blue Whale is not technology, but economics. Can it secure enough battery feedstock at a low enough cost, and sell its Blacksand® at a high enough price, to build a profitable business before its grant capital runs out? The risks are familiar in heavy industry.
- Feedstock competition. Every major recycler and some automakers are now scrambling to lock in supply contracts for end-of-life batteries, which could drive up acquisition costs.
- Commodity price exposure. The value of Blacksand® is tied to the volatile global prices for cobalt, nickel, and lithium. A sustained price drop could erase margins.
- Execution at scale. Commissioning and smoothly running a 14,000-ton-per-year chemical processing plant is a complex operational feat, with little room for error.
The company’s bet hinges on a simple back-of-the-envelope calculation. Its Bartlesville plant, at full capacity, could process the equivalent of roughly 280,000 electric vehicle battery packs per year (assuming an average pack weight of 50kg). If it can capture just a single-digit percentage of the U.S. end-of-life lithium-ion battery stream projected for this decade, the unit economics start to pencil out. To win, Blue Whale Materials must prove its process is not just cleaner, but cheaper, than the incumbent it must beat: sending batteries overseas for recycling or, worse, to landfill.
Sources
- [Blue Whale Materials, 2025] Recycling Solutions | https://www.bluewhalematerials.com/recycling-solutions
- [Crunchbase, Sep 2024] Grant - Blue Whale Materials | https://www.crunchbase.com/funding_round/blue-whale-materials-grant--253f69ad
- [PitchBook, 2026] Blue Whale Materials 2026 Company Profile | https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/496655-20
- [Blue Whale Materials, Sep 2023] Blue Whale Materials Release | https://www.bluewhalematerials.com/blue-whale-materials-release-copy
- [Bloomberg, 2019] Watch Blue Whale CEO on the Battle for Rare Earths | https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2019-05-28/blue-whale-ceo-on-the-battle-for-rare-earths-video
- [ZoomInfo] David Fauvre profile | https://www.zoominfo.com/p/David-Fauvre/-/id
- [LinkedIn] Jeremy Livingstone profile | https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-livingstone-46ab24b/
- [Blue Whale Materials team page] Our Team | https://www.bluewhalematerials.com/team
- [Recycling International] Blue Whale Materials opens battery recycling plant in Oklahoma | https://recyclinginternational.com/commodities/battery-recycling/blue-whale-materials-opens-battery-recycling-plant-in-oklahoma/62073/
- [BusinessWire, 2024-12] Alus & BWM Sign LOI | https://www.bluewhalematerials.com/alus-bwm-sign-loi-to-accelerate-us-battery-materials-market-entry