Battery Resourcers raises $20M

Battery Resourcers, which describes itself as a vertically integrated lithium-ion battery recycling and manufacturing company, has completed a $20 million Series B equity round with financing led by Orbia Ventures, the venture capital arm of the multinational Orbia, and participation from other investors including At One Ventures, TDK Ventures, TRUMPF Venture, Doral Energy-Tech Ventures and Jaguar Land Rover’s InMotion Ventures. The financing supports the development of a commercial-scale processing facility with the annual capacity to process 10,000 tons of batteries, or the batteries from approximately 20,000 electric vehicles (EVs) per year.

Battery Resourcers was founded in 2015 in Worcester, Massachusetts, as a spinout from the lab of professor Yan Wang at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Through the support of the U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC), Battery Resourcers has developed the technology to convert mixed streams of lithium-ion batteries, regardless of their chemistry, to produce various nickel manganese cobalt (NMC)-based cathode active materials.

Battery Resourcers processes a mixed stream of used lithium-ion batteries into finished, battery-ready cathode active materials. The company claims 97 percent metal recovery and says it can produce NMC-based cathode active materials with 35 percent reduction in cost, 32 percent reduction in emissions and 13 percent reduction in energy consumption compared with the production of virgin cathode.

The company also is engineering a process for graphite recovery and purification, which will enable it to return the cathode and anode active materials back to manufacturers of new batteries, Battery Resources says.

“Battery Resourcers is on the verge of revolutionizing the lithium-ion battery supply chain,” says company CEO Mike O’Kronley. “Being able to convert scrap and end-of-life battery materials into finished, cathode active material that can be directly used in making new batteries drives increased profitability and stability for the lithium-ion battery ecosystem. Our investment partners share our vision and passion for scaling this revolutionary process to support the battery material supply chain.”

Sameer Bharadwaj, CEO of Orbia, says, “The recycling of critical battery components into cathode active material is a value leap in getting to sustainable and scalable production of lithium-ion batteries. By integrating refinement and materials engineering processes, we believe Battery Resourcers’ approach can stabilize the cathode supply chain in North America while accelerating the shift to a clean, circular future—a goal we are very much invested in at Orbia as we seek to generate innovative solutions that advance life around the world. Beyond investing in Battery Resourcers, we are excited to partner with them and leverage our experience in scaling complex and sensitive chemical processes to bring this technology to market and impact.”