Munich Startup: What does your startup do? What problem are you solving?
Dr. Max Werner, founder and CEO of Hades Mining: Hades Mining is building Europe’s first technology-driven mining and energy platform. Our goal is to make geothermal energy and critical raw materials directly accessible here in Europe – sustainably, independently, and scalably. Today we import almost all critical raw materials from unstable regions of the world, and at the same time we are dependent on fossil energy sources. This makes us vulnerable and expensive. Classical drilling and extraction methods quickly reach their limits, especially in complex European geology. That’s exactly where we come in: With our approach, we can economically develop deeper energy sources and raw material deposits that were previously inaccessible. In doing so, we contribute to Europe’s energy and raw material sovereignty – one of the major challenges of this decade.
New technologies for Europe’s geological challenges
Munich Startup: But that already exists, doesn’t it?
Dr. Max Werner: At first glance, that’s true – geothermal energy and mining certainly exist already. But: in Europe, most known methods have reached their limits. Deep drilling is extremely expensive, often takes years, and frequently fails due to hard geology. At the same time, it causes enormous environmental damage. That’s exactly where we come in. We rethink the entire process and develop technologies specifically tailored to Europe’s geological conditions. This allows us to develop deposits and energy sources that were previously simply unreachable or uneconomical.
Munich Startup: What’s your founding story?
Dr. Max Werner: The idea for Hades Mining didn’t come from a laboratory, but from conversations about Europe’s future. I met Björn last year when he was still COO at Isar Aerospace. We initially talked about space travel, but our conversation quickly turned to technologies that could help Europe solve its energy and raw material dependencies.
We realized: the biggest bottleneck isn’t the resource itself, but the systems we use to access it – drilling. In this phase, Dan joined us, then an applied physicist at Marvel Fusion. With him, we were able to ground our ideas even deeper in physics.
Shared discussions became initial tests, tests became a clear technological concept, and ultimately our conviction and results led us to win over renowned investors. That’s how Hades Mining was born – with the ambition to solve one of Europe’s most difficult technical bottlenecks and redefine access to energy and critical raw materials.
Bureaucracy, vision, and Munich’s way of life
Munich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Dr. Max Werner: For me personally, it was a bit of a culture shock: I founded my first startup in London – fast, uncomplicated, founder-friendly through and through. When I came back to Germany, I realized: here you need patience for every signature, and often you also need a notary appointment. Plus an extra savings account for the fees. In short: founding in Germany is doable – but definitely not for the faint of heart.
Munich Startup: Where do you want to be in one year, where in five years?
Dr. Max Werner: In one year, we want to test our first proprietary drilling system under real-world conditions – and thereby prove that our technology can really solve Europe’s hardest geological problem.
In five years, we want to be Europe’s leading tech-mining company that not only enables geothermal projects, but also secures access to critical raw materials. In short: in five years, no one should be able to say that Europe is failing due to a lack of drilling technology.
Munich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup hub so far?
Dr. Max Werner: In summer, almost too beautiful to sit in the office: jogging by the Isar in the morning, watching surfers at the Eisbach at lunch – and discussing the next deep-tech revolution in a beer garden in the evening. But that’s exactly what makes Munich so special for us: a way of life that attracts talent, combined with a fantastic deep-technology ecosystem. For founders like us, that’s the perfect mix.
Munich Startup: Risk or security?
Dr. Max Werner: Security is what savings accounts are for. We chose risk – but risk with purpose: to make Europe’s future more independent and sustainable.
