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As demand for lithium explodes, battery recycling startup Tozero accelerates scale with initial $11.7 million

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TozeroA Munich-based startup that recovers helpful raw materials from recycled lithium-ion batteries is preparing to scale. The startup just closed an oversubscribed €11 million (roughly $11.7 million) seed round to scale up production by constructing its first industrial-scale implementation facility (first of its kind, or FOAK).

Currently, Tozero’s pilot plant processes nine tons of used lithium-ion batteries a day, however the startup is aiming for unlimited capability in what it hopes can be just just a few years of scaling up its operations.

“Other competitors are raising much more money to get into an industrial plant. But because our process and our technology are so lean and efficient, we don’t need more than that to achieve our first industrial deployment or what the investing world would call a “first-of-its-kind” factory. This is what we intend to build,” co-founder and CEO Dr. Sarah Fleischer (pictured above, left) told TechCrunch.

The startup claims that after the Tozero process gains industrial speed and functionality, there can be no hard limits on what it may well achieve when it comes to battery recycling, so long as it has access to waste streams.

“The goal of FOAK is actually to get into the actual, continuous production – manufacturing – of the product,” added co-founder and managing director, Dr. Ksenija Milicevic Neumann.

“After that, unlimited, infinite, exponential growth will be possible,” Fleischer said. “Our idea is to independently run plants around the world. We’re focusing on Germany, Europe, and then moving on to North America. But once we get to this plant (FOAK), we will be able to expand Tozero into multiple dimensions around the world. This will therefore be a key milestone in the next phase of growth.”

The startup pointed to forecasts that global demand for lithium is it is anticipated to quadruple to three.1 million metric tons by 2030, driven by the rapid uptake of electrical vehicles and growing demand for large-scale renewable energy batteries. By comparison, lithium mining produced just 180,000 metric tons last 12 months, so recycling can have a key role to play in meeting this demand.

The EU Battery Directive will even introduce an obligation to get better not less than 80% of lithium from batteries by 2031.

“The technology works… So the core part of our technology is already in place. Now we just have to industrialize it,” Fleischer said.

Eliminating bottlenecks in recycling

The startup seeks to eliminate bottlenecks in lithium battery recycling with: water-based carbonation a recovery process that’s more environmentally friendly than conventional pyrometallurgy (smelting). Its lithium recovery method doesn’t involve using harsh acids, as would be the case with other battery recycling processes.

Tozero claims its method also leads to significantly lower emissions – 70% lower – in comparison with mining.

“Commodity security is, in a sense, national security,” Fleischer said. “There are so many underdeveloped industries in Europe that are starving for this material because Europe does not produce lithium carbonate; we import. If you look at (European Commission President) Ursula von der Leyen, she states that we import over 97% of lithium carbonate from China. We are therefore highly dependent on the Eastern Front and the mining industry.”

Access to black pulp, a by-product of the mechanical recycling of lithium batteries processed by Tozero, shouldn’t be restricted across borders. In terms of competition, Fleischer describes the market as a “completely blue ocean market” by which battery recycling efforts are largely focused elsewhere. The startup says it may well use black pulp from any style of lithium-ion batteries in order that waste streams may be mixed.

“Lithium will always be there (recyclable batteries), but other elements change – with innovations in battery production – so we don’t care if there is nickel, if there is, for example, a few percent less or more cobalt, but lithium is always present,” said Milicevic Neumann.

Tozero also recovers graphite from blackmass waste streams. The startup says its give attention to these two key raw materials is a “key point of difference” in comparison with other battery recycling players.

The give attention to lithium can also be why the startup’s customers are beating their strategy to its doors.

“Customers are just storming the place,” Fleischer said, stating that market demand is “far too high” for many industrial applications in Europe. Tozero has “over a billion dollars worth of clients in the pipeline who are interested in our material,” she said.

Tozero has delivered the primary batch of high-purity processed lithium to business customers this Aprilnine months after opening pilot facility in Germany.

The need for speed

Tozero was only founded in 2022, so how has it achieved something that larger players within the industry have seemingly didn’t do over the previous few a long time? The startup says it comes right down to focus, speed and inventive pondering.

Speed ​​requires creativity when constructing hardware, Fleischer argued, explaining that the most important challenge for hardware startups is the delivery time of the vital hardware to scale.

“We break things quickly, learn, iterate and improve at a very rapid pace — probably along the lines of Elon Musk’s SpaceX principle — we just build things and see (what happens) until something breaks, we learn from it, iterate and we refine into very fast sprints, which is very unfamiliar to hardware companies,” Fleischer said.

“I would say we protect ourselves through speed,” she added, confirming that Tozero’s approach relies on “process innovations” which can be protected as trade secrets, although not patented. “The entire process, stages or parameters, sequence, method of performing specific activities, is completely our recipe for ‘Coca Cola’ (trade secret),” she added.

Tozero believes it might expand its approach to get better other raw materials that may be used as an “energy source”, although it might not specify what materials it might add later.

The overarching mission is to attain zero waste of key raw materials. “We are quite aware of (the broader challenges of decarbonizing in a sustainable way),” Milicevic Neumann told TechCrunch. “That’s why we also want to focus on recycling some other materials in the future.”

But if it wants to attain real impact, would not Tozero must license its trade secrets to others? They each say they have not fully selected their approach yet, but prefer to retain control of the method as they scale – although they’re open to partnerships.

“On the operational side, we believe that we can only truly deliver the highest quality if we operate the plants ourselves,” Fleischer said. “This can also apply to partners. I mean, we’re open to it. So I don’t want to say yes or no to licensing. Partnerships are great in terms of scale if they are helpful, but we will operate our own plants.”

Tozero’s seed round was led by NordicNinja, with participation from recent investors In-Q-Tel (an American strategic public-private fund), Honda and global infrastructure engineering giant JGC Group. The startup’s €3.5 million pre-season round, closed about two years ago, was led by Berlin-based Atlantic Labs. So far, the Tozero project has raised €17 million, which incorporates a €2.5 million grant from the EU’s research and development support body, the European Innovation Council.

“Tozero’s innovative approach to battery recycling is exactly what Europe needs to secure key supplies in the global electrification race, and Japan would like to cooperate,” Shin Nikkuni, co-founder and managing partner at NordicNinja, said in an announcement. “Sarah and Ksenija, two exceptional founders, have the knowledge and desire to transform the landscape towards sustainable battery solutions. We are excited to support the tozero team as they scale their technology and commercial operations and contribute to a more sustainable and independent energy future for all.”

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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Lyten buys battery production assets from beleaguered Northvolt

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Silicon Valley battery startup Lyten announced today that it’s acquiring manufacturing assets from Northvolt, a cash-strapped Swedish battery maker.

As a part of the deal, Northvolt is selling manufacturing equipment the corporate inherited through its 2021 acquisition of Cuberg, one other battery startup. Lyten may also take over the lease of the old Cuberg manufacturing facility in San Leandro, California. Lyten will invest $20 million next yr to expand its San Leandro facilities and existing operations in San Jose.

Neither Lyten nor Northvolt immediately responded to questions on the financial terms of the deal.

Unlike many other battery manufacturers, Lyten doesn’t use nickel, cobalt, manganese and even iron in its cathode materials. Instead, it uses low cost and abundant sulfur mixed with a graphene matrix. The anode side doesn’t use graphite, a surface-facing material export restrictions from China. The company claims that this mix creates cells which have the next energy density than nickel-manganese-cobalt cells, but are cheaper to provide than inexpensive lithium iron phosphate.

Northvolt has been having problems currently. The company struggled to ramp up production of lithium-ion batteries and failed to satisfy a big order from BMW, prompting the automaker to cancel a €2 billion contract.

To get monetary savings, the corporate announced in August that it could achieve this snapshot research and development on the Cuberg plant, shedding almost 200 employees. Then in September it said it was shedding a further 1,600 staff, or about 20% of its workforce, and that it had halted two planned factory expansions.

It is unclear whether cost cutting and the Lyten deal can be enough to assist Northvolt survive the approaching yr. Last week, Bloomberg reported that Northvolt needs to lift almost $1 billion to present itself some respiration room; According to reports, the corporate’s operations generate costs of roughly $100 million monthly.

While Northvolt is slipping, Lyten appears to be growing.

The San Jose-based startup plans to begin constructing a factory in Nevada next yr with a planned capability of 10 gigawatt hours. Once accomplished, the $1 billion facility will produce lithium-sulfur batteries for micro-mobility vehicles reminiscent of scooters and electric bicycles, and for defense and space applications reminiscent of drones and satellites. The company expects to come back online in 2027.

Lyten’s purchase of Northvolt’s Cuberg assets gives it equipment and space to provide as much as 200 megawatt-hours of lithium-sulfur batteries within the Bay Area. This should provide the corporate with some revenue while it prepares a bigger factory in Nevada.

According to PitchBook, Lyten has raised $476 million up to now at a $1.17 billion valuation, which incorporates a $200 million round that closed last yr.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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Klarna is kicking off its US IPO plans with a confidential filing with the SEC

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Members of the public pass by a floor advertisement for tech firm Klarna.

Swedish buy now, pay later (BNPL) start-up. Klarna is on its method to becoming a public company. Fintech he said on Wednesday announced the confidential filing of a draft registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The announcement of the stock exchange listing, long in the making, comes amid a dearth of initial public offerings (IPOs) in the technology sector. Klarna’s European status only adds to the excitement of today’s news.

Founded in 2005, Klarna is certainly one of several players on the market BNPL a space enabling customers to buy goods with a guarantee of an interest-free loan. After launching in the US in 2015, Klarna achieved a lofty valuation of over $45 billion by 2021, a figure that quickly declined by 85% to $6.5 billion attributable to “market corrections.”

However, Klarna’s valuation recently increased to $14.6 billionbased on reports, after one investor increased his stake.

We still don’t know the way many shares will likely be offered or what the IPO price range will likely be, but today’s announcement paves the way for Klarna to go public, likely in the first half of 2025.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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Donald Trump announces that Elon Musk will be co-head of the Department of Government Effectiveness

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President-elect Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that Elon Musk will co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency, whose acronym stands for DOGE, Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency. The CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, xAI, Neuralink and the owner of

Specifically, DOGE will “provide non-governmental advice and guidance,” implying that it will not be an official government agency requiring legislative approvals and funding. DOGE would moderately work with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget, based on the report press release.

The Trump campaign noted that DOGE’s work would be accomplished no later than July 4, 2026.

Musk has mentioned the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency over the past few months while campaigning for Trump across the country. However, it was unclear what shape DOGE would actually take or whether Trump would actually accept Musk’s offer.

At an October rally in New York, Musk promised to discover “cuts of at least $2 trillion” in federal agencies if Trump wins. It isn’t yet known whether Musk and Ramaswamy will keep this promise. Musk never explained which agencies or police would receive these cuts.

Trump and Musk have grown closer in recent months, and their relationship has only accelerated since they chatted together at X Spaces in August. During Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, Musk donated greater than $100 million to a pro-Trump super PAC, called America PAC, while also holding pro-Trump rallies in key swing states. Trump promised Musk the position of head of DOGE during a September speech at the Economic Club of New York.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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