10 Top Steel Manufacturing Startups & Companies to Watch in 2026

Executive Summary: Which are the Top 10 Steel Manufacturing Startups to Watch?

1. Meranti Green Steel (Singapore) develops low-carbon steel using hydrogen-ready direct reduced iron (DRI) in Oman and renewable-powered electric arc furnaces (EAFs) in Thailand.
2. DryFlow Magnetics (Australia) builds waterless magnetic separation technology to produce high-grade iron ore feedstock for green steel.
3. Lundell (UK) manufactures prefabricated cold-formed steel panels and thermally broken profiles for faster, sustainable construction.
4. STEELDNA (USA) builds life-cycle management software with radio frequency identification (RFID) and sensor integration to track and optimize steel products across supply chains.
5. Prime Powders (Canada) produces stainless steel powders for additive manufacturing with controlled particle size, high density, and oxidation resistance.
6. Avanza Steel (India) manufactures mild steel electric resistance welded (MS ERW) tubes, scaffolding, and shuttering materials using robotic welding and modular connections.
7. Hybar (USA) produces scrap-fed steel rebar using renewable-powered EAFs with advanced chemistry for corrosion resistance.
8. Staaltro (Norway) enables circular construction by supplying reclaimed steel products through a reuse system with full documentation and logistics.
9. Four Steels (Pakistan) manufactures stainless steel and duplex products using precision rolling, heat treatment, and advanced quality testing.
10. Hertha Metals (USA) develops a single-step low-carbon steelmaking platform that processes low-grade ores with natural gas or hydrogen.

Global Startup Heat Map highlights Emerging Steel Manufacturing Startups to Watch

Through the Big Data & Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, covering over 9M+ startups, 20K+ technology trends, plus 150M+ patents, news articles & market reports, we identified the top steel manufacturing startups.

The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights emerging steel manufacturing startups you should watch in 2026, as well as the geo-distribution of 1500+ startups & scaleups we analyzed for this research.

According to our data, we observe high startup activity in the USA and India, followed by the UK. The top 5 Startup Hubs for steel manufacturing are Dubai, London, Mumbai, Bangalore, and New York City.

Meet Emerging Steel Manufacturing Startups to Watch in 2026

We hand-picked startups to showcase in this report by filtering for their technology, founding year, location, funding, and other metrics. These emerging steel manufacturing startups work on solutions ranging from green steel and rebar production to low-carbon steel alloys and steel manufacturing software.

1. Meranti Green Steel – Low-Carbon Steel

• Founding Year: 2023
• Location: Singapore

Singaporean startup Meranti Green Steel develops low-carbon steel through a combination of hydrogen-ready DRI in Oman and renewable-powered EAF in Thailand. In Oman, the startup produces hot briquetted iron (HBI) using natural gas blended with 15% hydrogen. This HBI feeds into the Thailand facility, where scrap steel and HBI are melted in EAFs powered entirely by solar, wind, and hydropower secured through power purchase agreements.

The integrated system reduces CO2 emissions to around 600 kg per ton of steel in early phases and below 200 kg per ton once fully hydrogen-based. With a planned output of 2.5 million tons of hot-rolled coil annually, the startup supports automotive, construction, appliances, and packaging sectors.

2. DryFlow Magnetics – High-Grade Feedstock

• Founding Year: 2024
• Location: Sydney, Australia

Australian startup DryFlow Magnetics offers waterless magnetic separation technology to supply high-grade feedstock for green steel. Its patented dynamic stacked magnetics system achieves high-efficiency separation through self-fluidisation of ore. However, it does not require energy-intensive drying or air-forced fluidisation and remains effective even with ore moisture levels above 10%.

The technology creates a continuous magnetic induction field along the ore-carrying belt by allowing magnetic particles sufficient residence time to separate cleanly from waste rock and form premium concentrates. By producing concentrates with over 67% iron content, it supports hydrogen-based DRI and EAF pathways while recovering value from waste and removing harmful sulfide minerals.

3. Lundell – Sustainable Steel Modules for Construction

• Founding Year: 2023
• Location: Wirral, UK

UK-based startup Lundell delivers prefabricated steel structures for the construction industry. It utilizes renewable energy resources and minimizes recycling waste during the production of cold-formed steel profiles.

Its Lundell Panel uses thermally broken steel technology for efficient production. The panels are non-combustible and come in open formats as well as closed. The open panels eliminate the need for external wall insulation in buildings, while the closed panels are quick to assemble on-site.

Further, the startup’s Thermo Profiles offer steel framing for buildings and facades. It deploys the hot-dip galvanized steel sheet manufacturing method. These thermally broken steel profiles eliminate moisture buildup in buildings and prevent poor indoor air quality and mold or mildew growth.

4. STEELDNA – Steel Manufacturing Software

• Founding Year: 2023
• Location: Houston, Texas, USA

US-based startup STEELDNA offers life-cycle management software for steel products. It integrates RFID technologies like labels and asset tags. This enhances the traceability and electronic identification of steel products across industries.

Its PIPEDNA software traces steel pipes and tubes across the supply chain. For this, it incorporates a pipe stenciling system and vision recognition to verify each component accurately. Another software, COILDNA, tracks steel coils across processing, slitting, and fabrication by utilizing ultra-wideband (UWB) and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for real-time location sensing. It manages pipe and coil inventory, inspection, utilization, and field data capture.

Further, the startup’s EDGE-X software digitizes steel production by integrating with industrial processes and sensor data with edge gateways. This provides manufacturers with real-time on-field insights and enables predictive maintenance and quality control to reduce downtime.

5. Prime Powders – 3D Printing Steel Powder

• Founding Year: 2023
• Location: Toronto, Canada

Canadian startup Prime Powders produces stainless steel powders for additive manufacturing. The powders feature narrow particle size distribution, near-perfect spherical morphology, and oxidation resistance. This makes them suitable for laser powder bed fusion (LB-PBF), electron beam powder bed fusion (EB-PBF), and directed energy deposition (DED) systems.

Additionally, the powders achieve high apparent and tap densities, better flowability, and low oxygen content to ensure consistency during processing. With materials like Inconel 625 and MetcoAdd 316L, Prime Powders supports the production of components ranging from surgical tools and orthopedic implants to heat exchangers and maritime parts.

Want to Explore 1510+ Steel Manufacturing Startups & Scaleups?

6. Avanza Steel – Steel Tubes, Scaffolding, and Pipes

• Founding Year: 2023
• Location: Kolkata, India

Indian startup Avanza Steel manufactures MS ERW tubes and scaffolding, and shuttering materials. It deploys robotic metal inert gas (MIG) welding, automated cut-to-length lines, and batch galvanization to ensure precision and structural strength.

Moreover, the startup’s tool-free cuplock connections and modular formwork enhance on-site assembly. This allows builders and construction workers to reuse building components.

7. Hybar – Rebar Production

• Founding Year: 2023
• Location: Osceola, Arkansas, USA

US-based startup Hybar produces both stick and spooled scrap-fed steel rebars. It uses EAF and continuous casting technologies powered by a direct current (DC) furnace to reduce carbon electrode consumption.

The startup deploys chemistry and quenching processes to produce rebar with corrosion resistance. This serves applications in construction, marine facilities, bridge and tunnel projects, and tall buildings.

Further, it integrates renewable energy sources like behind-the-meter solar and battery storage. It also minimizes water use and carbon emissions.

8. Staaltro – Reclaimed Steel Products

• Founding Year: 2024
• Location: Oslo, Norway

Norwegian startup Staaltro enables circular steel reuse in construction by simplifying the purchase of reclaimed steel building materials. It manages documentation, logistics, and sales through a reuse system and supports accurate environmental accounting.

Further, it collects and bundles standardized steel elements from different projects. By streamlining the reuse of reclaimed steel building materials, the startup offers a cost-efficient alternative to disposal or recycling. It also eliminates manual sourcing that leads to delays.

9. Four Steels – Stainless Steel Product Manufacturing

• Founding Year: 2023
• Location: Lahore, Pakistan

Pakistani startup Four Steels manufactures stainless steel products, like plates, bars, rods, coils, tubes, wires, as well as alloys like duplex stainless steel. It utilizes precision rolling and controlled heat treatment to ensure consistent mechanical properties and surface quality.

Moreover, it deploys ultrasonic testing, chemical analysis, and dimensional inspection for quality control. Automated finishing lines further increase optimization.

10. Hertha Metals – Low-Carbon Steel Alloys

• Founding Year: 2022
• Location: Conroe, Texas, USA

US-based startup Hertha Metals offers Flex-HERS, a proprietary steelmaking platform that produces iron and steel from low-grade ores, fines, and waste oxides in a single-step process. The technology operates with natural gas, hydrogen, or electricity to eliminate dependence on high-cost direct reduced iron (DRI) pellets.

Further, Flex-HERS provides tunable iron and steel production while reducing emissions compared to conventional methods. By enabling seamless fuel switching from natural gas to clean hydrogen without altering furnace infrastructure, the startup creates a scalable pathway for domestic, low-emission steel production.

Discover All Emerging Manufacturing Startups

The manufacturing startups showcased in this report are only a small sample of all startups we identified through our data-driven startup scouting approach. Download our free Manufacturing Innovation Report for a broad overview of the industry or get in touch for quick & exhaustive research on the latest technologies & emerging solutions that will impact your company in 2026!