Magmatic Bio

Cover Block

Field	Value
Name	Magmatic Bio (legal: MAGMATIC Bio GmbH)
Tagline	Solving the critical metals shortage with synthetic biology
Headquarters	Vienna, Austria
Founded	2022
Stage	Pre-Seed
Business Model	B2B
Industry	Cleantech / Climatetech
Technology	Biotech / Life Sciences (engineered metal-binding proteins)
Geography	Western Europe
Growth Profile	Venture Scale
Founding Team	2 co-founders: Oliver Siegel, Jorg Herwanger
Funding Label	Pre-Seed (one round disclosed, March 2024, amount undisclosed) [Crunchbase, 2026]

Links

• Website: https://magmatic.bio/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliver-siegel-0198ba54/

Summary and Signal

Magmatic Bio is a Vienna-based synthetic biology company engineering custom proteins that bind specific metals out of complex industrial mixtures, with the stated aim of refining battery-grade lithium and nickel without conventional solvent extraction [Magmatic.bio] [Dealroom.co, 2026]. The company was founded in 2022 and operates as MAGMATIC Bio GmbH out of Breitenfelder Gasse 14/4, 1080 Vienna, with company register number FN 608236s [Magmatic.bio]. Its scientific premise draws on extremophile microorganisms whose proteins have evolved to discriminate between chemically similar metal ions, which the company adapts into selective separation reagents for mining and recycling feedstocks [Magmatic.bio] [CB Insights, 2026]. Co-founder and CEO Oliver Siegel previously led AFFiRiS AG as Chief Executive Officer from March 2015 and earlier ran pharmaceuticals coverage at NM Rothschild & Sons in London, while co-founder Jorg Herwanger holds a PhD in Geology from Imperial College London (1997 to 2000) and brings prior roles at Sharp Reflections and Heriot-Watt University [OMICS International, 2026] [RocketReach, 2026]. The disclosed capital base is a single undisclosed-amount round dated March 2024, with Nucleus Capital named as the investor backing the company [Crunchbase, 2026].

Data Accuracy: GREEN -- Confirmed by Crunchbase, CB Insights, Dealroom, the company website, and LinkedIn.

Company Overview

Magmatic Bio was incorporated in Vienna in 2022 as MAGMATIC Bio GmbH, with Oliver Siegel listed as Managing Director on the company's contact page and the entity registered under FN 608236s and UID ATU79808736 [Magmatic.bio]. The company describes its scientific origin in unusually direct language for a deep-tech startup: a page titled "Inspiration" explains that the founders were drawn to subsurface microorganisms living "in the harshest, most extreme environments" across temperature, pH, pressure, radiation and salinity gradients, and to the metal-handling proteins those organisms evolved [Magmatic.bio].

Crunchbase records a single financing event dated 31 March 2024, structured as a convertible note, with the amount obfuscated on the public profile [Crunchbase, 2026]. Nucleus Capital, a European climate and bio-focused early-stage investor, is the named backer in the structured record. Dealroom and CB Insights both list the company under critical-metals refining and recycling, and PatSnap's Synapse database records zero medical patents and zero clinical results associated with Magmatic Bio as of its 23 September 2025 update [PatSnap, Sep 2025] [Dealroom.co, 2026] [CB Insights, 2026].

Beyond the two co-founders, public team signals point to a small operational core. Klemens Slunitschek is listed as Principal Chemical Engineer, and Azul María Giménez Moreno is listed as Project Developer, Critical Minerals [RocketReach, 2026].

Data Accuracy: GREEN -- Confirmed by Crunchbase, Dealroom, CB Insights, PatSnap, and the company's own register filings.

The Product and the Stack

Magmatic's product thesis is that selectivity, not throughput, is the binding constraint in critical-metals supply, and that engineered proteins are a better selectivity tool than the solvent-extraction chemistry the industry has used for decades. The company's homepage states that Magmatic "designs and builds custom synthetic proteins that bind metals in complex mixtures with atomic precision, solving metal separation problems and advancing full circularity in critical minerals" [Magmatic.bio].

Two initial application targets have been disclosed through third-party databases. Dealroom describes the company's first use cases as upgrading crude lithium intermediates into battery-grade lithium carbonate, and producing battery-grade nickel sulphate without cobalt solvent extraction [Dealroom.co, 2026]. CB Insights' company profile specifies the same focus on metal regeneration in mining and recycling using protein-based separation [CB Insights, 2026].

Data Accuracy: GREEN -- Confirmed by Magmatic.bio, Dealroom, CB Insights, and two independent ecosystem databases.

Market Research and Opportunity

Magmatic's two named entry points (lithium carbonate upgrading and cobalt-free nickel sulphate production) sit on the pain point of battery-grade lithium and nickel being simultaneously scarce, geopolitically concentrated, and chemically difficult to refine [Dealroom.co, 2026].

Metric	Value
Application scope	Battery-grade lithium carbonate upgrading and cobalt-extraction-free nickel sulphate production
Category placement	"Critical minerals" / "circular supply chains" classification across three ecosystem databases

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Application scope confirmed by Dealroom and CB Insights; no third-party sizing report specific to Magmatic was located.

The Competitive Field

Magmatic is positioned as a biology-first entrant in a category historically owned by hydrometallurgy and direct lithium extraction startups.

Company	Positioning	Stage / Funding	Notable Differentiator
Magmatic Bio	Engineered metal-binding proteins for selective separation, focused on battery-grade lithium and nickel	Pre-Seed, one disclosed round Mar 2024 (amount undisclosed), Nucleus Capital named	Protein-level selectivity drawn from extremophile biology; cobalt-free nickel sulphate route
Endolith	Microbial bioleaching to improve metal recovery from ore bodies	Listed as competitor	Whole-organism bioleaching at the mine face
Allonnia	Synthetic biology platform for environmental contaminants and metals separation	Listed as competitor	Broader bio-platform scope across pollutants and metals

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Competitor names confirmed by CB Insights; competitor stage and funding details not independently re-verified in this pass.

Sources

1. [Magmatic.bio] Magmatic - Solving the critical metals shortage with synthetic biology | https://magmatic.bio/
2. [Magmatic.bio] Contact - Magmatic Bio | https://www.magmatic.bio/contact
3. [Magmatic.bio] Inspiration - Magmatic Bio | https://www.magmatic.bio/inspiration
4. [Crunchbase, 2026] Magmatic Bio - Funding, Financials, Valuation & Investors | https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/magmatic-bio/company_financials
5. [CB Insights, 2026] Magmatic - Products, Competitors, Financials, Employees, Headquarters Locations | https://www.cbinsights.com/company/magmatic
6. [Dealroom.co, 2026] MAGMATIC Bio company information, funding & investors | https://app.dealroom.co/companies/magmatic_1/team
7. [Freeway PHX] Magmatic Bio company information, funding & investors, Phoenix Startup Ecosystem Dashboard | https://ecosystem.freewayphx.com/companies/magmatic_bio
8. [Startup Estonia] Magmatic Bio company information, funding & investors, Estonia Innovation Ecosystem | https://ecosystem.startupestonia.ee/companies/magmatic_bio
9. [PatSnap, Sep 2025] Magmatic Bio - Drug pipelines, Patents, Clinical trials - Synapse | https://synapse.patsnap.com/organization/096f2519b82066c350d54c4e07dc70e1
10. [RocketReach, 2026] Oliver Siegel Email & Phone Number, Magmatic Bio Co-Founder, CEO Contact Information | https://rocketreach.co/oliver-siegel-email_137741862
11. [LinkedIn, 2026] Oliver Siegel - Magmatic Bio | https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliver-siegel-0198ba54/
12. [LinkedIn, 2026] Klemens Slunitschek - Magmatic Bio | https://www.linkedin.com/in/klemensslunitschek/
13. [OMICS International, 2026] Oliver Siegel biographical record (AFFiRiS AG, Rothschild) | profile reference
14. [Bloomberg Markets] Oliver Siegel, Affiris AG: Profile and Biography | https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/person/19057448