- Battery recycling startups are popping up in an attempt to meet the burgeoning demand.
- Singapore’s Green Li-ion has pocketed $11.55 million for its waste-free used cell recycling process.
- We got an exclusive look at the pitch deck used for the Series A funding round.
Singapore-based Green Li-ion wants to keep rechargeable batteries out of landfills.
Global adoption of smartphones, laptops, electric vehicles and other devices has boosted demand for batteries, which depend on a dwindling supply of precious metals. The battery cell production market is expected to reach $360 billion by 2030, according to to a McKinsey analysis.
But the batteries that power our devices can only be recharged a certain number of times. Once they reach the end of their life cycle, or when devices are discarded, batteries become waste.
If thrown away, they can end up leaching toxic metals and chemicals into the ground.
Battery recycling plants can give used batteries new life, but the process is expensive and inefficient. Current processes can only handle certain types of lithium batteries, according to Leon Farrant, co-founder and CEO of Green Li-Ion.
“We throw 95% of used batteries into landfills. With our technology, we can recover that. If we don’t, we can’t make progress in the energy transition towards greater reliance on renewable batteries,” said farrant.
Farrant and CTO Reza Katal co-founded Green Li-ion in 2020 to rejuvenate used batteries into new without waste, selling machines that make the process easier for recycling plants.
Green Li-ion isn’t alone, with battery recycling startups emerging around the world, Insider previously reported, along with rivals such as Nevada-based Redwood Materials and Canada’s Li-Cycle.
Farrant said he believes Green Li-ion’s technology can set it apart from the competition.
Farrant said Green Li-ion’s technology allows its customers to salvage the most valuable part of the battery – the cathode. It also reduces its customers’ reliance on manual labor to sort battery parts during the process. The result, Farrant said, makes it more attractive for recycling plants to recycle batteries.
The company raised $11.55 million at the end of April. The Series A round was led by energy technology venture capital firm Energy Revolution Ventures. Other cleantech co-investors include the venture capital arm of the world’s fourth largest renewable energy producer EDP (EDP Ventures), TRIREC, SOSV, Entrepreneur First, MB Energy Partners, Ilshin Holdings, Envisioning Partners and GS Holdings. .
The money raised by Green Li-ion will be used to improve its recycling technology, Farrant said. It will also be used to help build and operate the operations of its first modular processing plants.
The startup currently has a pilot system in Singapore and is completing a recycling system in Houston, Texas for LiNiCo Corp, a battery recycling company in Nevada, he said.
The funds will also be used to expand the company into Europe and other markets like Malaysia, Australia and India, Farrant said.
“We have to find a way to recover materials from used batteries, otherwise we’ll just run out of raw materials to make rechargeable batteries. That’s Green Li-ion’s greatest existential risk,” Farrant said.
Read on to see the Green Li-ion pitch deck used for its funding round below: