Mantle Energy Raises $5M in Seed Funding

The company plans to use the funds to expand its engineering team, build strategic partnerships, and complete preparations for its upcoming subsurface pilot projects.

Mantle is an energy company that uses advanced techniques to generate heat in oil and gas formations. This process supports both enhanced oil recovery and geothermal energy production, helping improve energy security while providing lower-carbon baseload power.

With this innovative approach, Mantle aims to unlock a large amount of energy still trapped underground—potentially up to 90% of a reservoir’s remaining potential.

The funding commitment represents an important milestone as Mantle spins out from Hunt Energy’s incubator, Hunt Innovative Technologies, to establish itself as a new and independent energy company.

James Franks, former Director of Innovation and Entrepreneur in Residence at Hunt Innovative Technologies, will serve as Mantle’s CEO. He brings strong experience in upstream oil, and gas, energy markets, and scaling innovative energy technologies.

Hunt Innovative Technologies, a subsidiary of Hunt Energy, has been central in incubating Mantle, and its leadership continues to play an important role in the company’s long-term vision.

"It is wonderful to see another one of our incubated disruptive technologies leave the nest with this outside investment to become a standalone startup," said Todd Benson, Chief Innovation Officer for Hunt Energy. "It is particularly exciting with the understanding of how important this technology could be to the energy needs of America while also being a great example of environmentally conscious but also commercially viable innovation."

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"Mantle is truly a transitional energy company leveraging oil and gas resources differently," said Hunter Hunt, CEO of Hunt Energy. "By repurposing existing oil and gas resources into a low carbon energy source to generate electricity, Mantle will unlock a new source of reliable and sustainable power to meet the growing demands of our electric grid."

"I am very excited about our new venture, Mantle. This technology leverages oil and gas resources in a new, unique, and greener way. Mantle will reshape oil production and create Geothermal energy in a manner that has never been demonstrated. I am looking forward to introducing Mantle's capabilities and watching our company grow," said Tracey Maynor of 17Shoals.

"There are plenty of oil and gas resources available, but often they are not economically feasible to extract under current methods. Mantle leverages these remaining resources uniquely by converting them to thermal energy to add baseload power to the grid, while keeping most of the carbon in the ground," said James Franks, CEO of Mantle. "The funding provided by 17Shoals will enable us to scale our team and formalize our pilot plan which will position Mantle Energy as a new type of energy company."

About Mantle Energy

Founded in 2026, Mantle Energy is developing an “activated geothermal” technology incubated by Hunt Innovative Technologies. The company repurposes depleted or low yield oil and gas wells to generate controlled underground heat which is then captured and used to produce low-carbon baseload electricity for the grid.

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