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All news, insights and events.

EIT InnoEnergy is proud to renew its support for Mecaware to speed up its industrial and commercial development

MECAWARE secures €40m to become the leader in battery recycling and the production of strategic metals in France and Europe.

This funding will enable the industrialisation of the pilot scheme for the recycling of battery production scrap (Gigafactories Scrap – ScrapCO2MET project), which will be operational in 2025. This tool will produce 50 tonnes of recycled metal per year, in particular, lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese. To prepare for this development, MECAWARE is finalising the installation of its new Technical Centre on the outskirts of Lyon (Vénissieux). This 1,600m2 site includes offices, an R&D laboratory and a factory building.

A one-of-a-kind technology

MECAWARE is currently focusing on the recycling of end-of-life batteries and production scrap from battery-making factories. Its technology is based on ground-breaking innovation in dynamic combinatorial chemistry. It uses the synergy caused from the capture of CO2 and the recycling of critical metals. Subject to four patents, it was recognised in 2020 by the American Chemical Society and the Nature Chemistry journal.

 

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. Consequently, its economic and ecological value is particularly appealing: the MECAWARE eco²-efficiency feedstocks to deposits and to evolutions in battery technology.

A one-of-a-kind technology

This fundraising operation carried out with a pool of investors was organised 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. It was supported by some of MECAWARE’s long-standing investment partners, who thus consolidated their positions: EIT InnoEnergy, UI Investissement, Kreaxi, BNP Paribas Développement, Crédit Agricole Création. It follows on from the obtainment, at the start of the year, of State subsidies under the France 2030 Plan (ADEME, RRR) awarded to the ScrapCO2MET project in partnership with the companies VERKOR and MTB. This funding should also be supplemented by bank support provided by BNP Paribas, CIC, CERA and Bpifrance.

 

This fundraising will also enable the development of the operational governance of commercial activities and the structuring of the teams involved (workforces will increase from 40 people at the end of 2023 to 80 in 2024).

Arnaud Villers d’Arbouet, Co-Founder and CEO of MECAWARE explains:

“MECAWARE is thus deploying a ground-breaking and scalable industrial solution as part of a circular economy approach. It makes it possible to secure supplies of raw materials, enabling the strategic independence of our territories to bolster the energy transition, all in compliance with EU Regulations. Our technological solution addresses the current problems caused by traditional processes.”