Orion Industrial Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Orion Industrial Ventures (OIV) is the venture arm of Orion Resource Partners, a private capital manager focused on metals and mining. OIV invests in companies developing technologies to decarbonize industry and enable an economic, sustainable supply of the critical minerals, materials and new energy solutions needed for global growth. The firm launched in 2023 and says it leverages Orion's edge: a global network that combines emerging climate-tech and old-world mining ecosystems, plus access to Orion's mining and industrial asset base and project-level financing as routes to market.
Investment Areas
The site organizes the thesis into three areas:
- Increase upstream minerals supply: exploration and discovery, operations and logistics, extraction and processing, recycling and circular supply.
- Provide sustainable energy inputs: baseload energy generation, heat and energy storage, the hydrogen economy, sustainable fuels.
- Decarbonize materials processes: energy efficiency improvements, electrochemical processes, industrial biotechnology, CO2 capture and removal.
Target markets named on the site: copper, nickel, lithium, rare earths, nuclear fusion, geothermal power, energy storage, hydrogen, green steel, sustainable cement, and ammonia and fertilizers.
Stage Focus
Primary stage is Seed to Series B. The firm targets early-growth companies worldwide and prefers companies with demonstrable results that Orion can help scale, rather than pure concept-stage bets.
Check Size and Ownership
No check size is published. The fund is small ($43M) and the firm targets roughly 20 to 30+ holdings with 3 to 10% target ownership. At the January 2026 close it had deployed about 50% of capital across 15 companies, which implies an average of roughly $1.4M per company so far. Check size fields are left empty rather than guessed.
Lead Tendency
Mixed. OIV co-led the $4.05M LoopX seed with BDC Seed Venture Fund (August 2026) and is reported to have led the $6.4M Giraffe Bio seed (October 2026). It also appears as a participant in larger rounds such as Zanskar's $115M Series C (January 2026), where it is not the lead.
Recent Activity
- October 2026: Led Giraffe Bio's $6.4M seed (biomolecules for copper recovery), with BHP Ventures participating.
- August 2026: Co-led LoopX's $4.05M seed (physical AI for underground mining) with BDC Seed Venture Fund.
- May 2026: Thea Energy (stellarator fusion) raised a $100M Series B; OIV is listed as an investor.
- January 2026: Closed OIV Fund I at $43M, described as a proof-of-concept fund. Participated in Zanskar's $115M Series C.
- Fund status: actively deploying, with about half of Fund I invested at close.
Portfolio Highlights
The firm has no portfolio page on its own site. Names come from the Fund I close announcement and press: Emesent, TI Mining, Ceibo, Jetti, Mangrove (Mangrove Lithium), Alta (Alta Resource Technologies, rare earths), Zanskar (geothermal), Koloma (geologic hydrogen), Thea Energy (fusion), Rondo (heat storage), Flocean, Giraffe Bio, LoopX, and APERIO (per PitchBook). The 15 companies are headquartered in the United States, Chile, Canada, Sweden and Australia. No exits are disclosed.
Team
- Mark Frayman, Managing Partner (Melbourne): runs OIV. Previously founded and ran BHP Ventures, the corporate venture group of BHP.
- Jason Holt, Partner (San Francisco): joined 2023. 25+ years in climate and sustainability; previously an investor at Baruch Future Ventures. PhD in chemical engineering from Caltech.
- Jessica Hauck, Investor (New York): joined 2026. Previously at Volta Energy Technologies; PhD in chemical engineering; former research engineer at Chemetry.
- Eve Spalding, Analyst (New York): joined 2025.
- Peter Rozenauers, Operating Partner at Orion Mine Finance (Melbourne): liaison connecting OIV companies and pipeline to the Orion Group.
- Parent leadership: Oskar Lewnowski, founder and Group CEO of Orion Resource Partners.
Decision Process
Not disclosed. Two Managing Partners lead the team, which suggests a partnership model. Orion Group involvement after investment is a stated feature: access to the broader team, portfolio assets and capital.
Founder Preferences
Technical, differentiated founders with early field traction and flagship customers. In the LoopX release Frayman described the target as a differentiated technology, a driven founding team, and early traction with flagship customers that demonstrates results in the field.
Geographic Focus
Global. Portfolio companies sit in the US, Chile, Canada, Sweden and Australia. The team is spread across New York, San Francisco and Melbourne, and the firm describes itself as New York based.