Mecaware, a battery recycling company, secured €40 million (~$42 million) in funding for the recycling of battery production scrap (Gigafactories Scrap – ScrapCO2MET project). The project is expected to be operational in 2025. The project is expected to produce 50 tons of recycled metal per year, including lithium, nickel, cobalt, and manganese.
The funding was raised from a pool of investors organized by Crédit Mutuel Innovation and the SPI2 fund managed on behalf of the State of France by Bpifrance as part of the France 2030 initiative.
The funding round also saw the participation of existing investors EIT InnoEnergy, UI Investissement, Kreaxi, BNP Paribas Développement, and Crédit Agricole Création.
Founded in 2020, the company recycles end-of-life batteries and produces scrap from battery-making factories.
The company’s technology is based on dynamic combinatorial chemistry. It uses the synergy caused by the capture of CO2 and the recycling of critical metals. Its application enables the extraction of metals in a closed loop, free from inputs that impact the environment, without producing any effluent, and with no special energy requirements.
The chemical process used by MECAWARE, was created through French public research. It was developed by Professor Julien Leclaire at the Applied Supramolecular Chemistry Laboratory in Lyon.
Magali Joessel, Director of the SPI Fund, comments: “We are convinced that Mecaware’s technology, which seeks to recycle and recover black mass from end-of-life batteries or production scrap, constitutes a valid response to these challenges. The metal extraction process they have created is an innovative solution that fits into the development of the French battery sector. Preparing the industrialization of Mecaware and supporting its shift in scale chime perfectly with the raison d’être of the SPI Fund.”
Recently, Australian battery recycling startup Renewable Metals closed an A$8 million (~$5 million) investment round to scale and commercialize its lithium-ion battery recycling technology.
According to Mercom’s 1H And Q2 2023 Funding and M&A Report for Storage & Smart Grid, Venture Capital funding for energy storage companies was up in Q2 2023 with $2.7 billion in 24 deals, a 148% increase compared to $1.1 billion in 19 deals in Q1 2023.
