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.
The funding was led by Asia Pacific-based venture capital firm Investible via its early-stage Climate Tech Fund, with additional participation from the U.S.-based venture capital investor, the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, and CEFC.
The investment round is expected to support Renewable Metals in developing a pilot plant in Perth, constructing a larger-scale demonstration plant capable of processing up to 1,500 tons of battery waste annually.
Virescent Ventures Partner Blair Pritchard said, “There is a growing global need for effective waste management strategies as demand for lithium-ion batteries rises, driven by the increasing electrification of transport and the renewable energy generation storage sector.”
“Battery recycling that extracts valuable metals and materials is an important part of building Australia’s circular economy as demand for batteries grows. By developing end-of-life battery systems, Australia can participate across the battery value chain, from critical minerals extraction, refining, processing operation and maintenance and the eventual repurposing and recycling of batteries and components,” he added.
Renewable Metals technology uses alkaline leaching that eliminates the need to pre-process battery cells to ‘black mass’ as found in existing battery recycling processes. The simpler extraction method developed by Renewable Metals claims to use fewer chemicals to recover critical battery materials and produces less waste, reducing processing costs by up to 30%.
Battery Recycling Market has seen a sharp increase in funding activity in the past few months, led by Redwood Materials, which raised $1 billion in a Series D funding round. Ascend Elements, another battery recycling company, also raised $460 million in a Series D funding round.
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.
