Today European battery recycling startup, Circu Li-ion, a leading, announced the successful closing of a €8.5 million Seed financing round.
Circu Li-ion is a European battery upcycling company transforming the battery value chain by automating and scaling the disassembly of batteries and the diagnostic of cells - for a more economical and ecological battery recycling.
Its usecases include electric vehicles, micro-mobility, power tools, energy storage systems, and recycling. A Machine-as-a-Service solution helps give used batteries a second life through upcycling instead of recycling - saving money and the planet.
The company aims to upcycle three billion batteries by 2035.
The recent funding includes €4.5 million in equity, led by BonVenture and additional backing from an undisclosed group of battery, AI, and industry experts, and a significant participation of the company's management team.
The investment is complemented by €4 million in grants from the EICA (European Innovation Council Accelerator) and collaborations with recyclers and OEMs.
According to Antoine Welter, CEO and co-founder of Circu Li-ion:
"We're happy to double down on our development speed, turning this fresh funding into smarter, data-focused solutions that make battery recycling economically and ecologically viable for everyone. For this, the key is a great team - we will further invest in our team and double our size of currently 34 colleagues within the next twelve months."
Nikolaj Klebert, investment manager at BonVenture shared:
"Since the first contact with the outstanding team, we have been enthusiastic about the highly dynamic environment of battery up- and recycling in which they have occupied the field very early and taken a dominant role.
Circu Li-Ion stops the current destruction of value in the form of a technically sophisticated and particularly innovative solution, thus unlocking previously inaccessible potential down to the level of the individual cell.
This makes a particularly high level of sustainability possible in the first place and makes an important contribution to the transformation of many industries."
Accordingly, the new funding will enable Circu Li-Ion to:
- Enhance its upcycling platform.
- Amplify its proprietary battery data library.
- Bolster collaborations with EV OEMs and recyclers, and
- Unlock new capabilities in the battery recycling value chain.
Circu Li-ion also plans to expand its main production facility near Karlsruhe, Germany, to 2,000 m2 while further growing its Berlin satellite office.
Lead image: the Circu Li-ion team. Photo: Uncredited.