Nth Cycle receives funding boost

Boston-based metals refining company Nth Cycle has closed $44 million in new funding that was supported by several investors, including the Caterpillar Ventures subsidiary of heavy equipment maker Caterpillar Inc.

Nth Cycle, which says it has developed the world’s only modular electro-extraction metals refining technology, has closed $37 million in Series B financing and an additional $7 million in nondilutive financing.

In addition to Caterpillar Ventures, other investors include: VoLo Earth Ventures, a Colorado-based venture firm focused on climate solutions, per Nth Cycle’s description; and financial services firm MassMutual through its MM Catalyst Fund I, which invests in rural-based and Black-led businesses based in Massachusetts; and Norway-based Equinor Ventures.

Nth Cycle says its refining process can extract recyclable metals from inbound metals-bearing feedstock that includes scrap, waste streams, primary ore concentrate and end-of-life electronics components.

The Boston-based firm also lists black mass harvested from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries as a potential infeed. Earlier this year, Nth Cycle commissioned a 21,000-square-foot refining facility in Fairfield, Ohio.

The company also recently received two U.S. Department of Energy awards, including $3 million from the Advanced Materials & Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) designed “to drive the innovation required to strengthen America’s competitiveness in a global net-zero [carbon emissions] economy.”

Nth Cycle's patented electro-extraction technology has been developed to replace conventional and energy-intensive pyrometallurgy, also known as smelting, with a clean and modular refining system, named The Oyster.

Recently, Nth Cycle also announced it would be the first company in the United States to offer a domestic nickel mixed hydroxide product (Ni MHP), helping the country to meet the goals of establishing a domestic supply of critical metals crucial for the growth of electrification infrastructure established by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

Recycled-content Ni MHP can help accelerate a path for electric vehicle (EV) automakers to meet domestic supply mandates set by the IRA “with the benefits of transparent oversight and compliant material,” the company says.

“Caterpillar’s collaboration with Nth Cycle supports our commitment to helping our customers achieve their climate-related objectives and establishing a circular value chain,” says Rod Shurman, senior vice president at Caterpillar.

“As an investor, we look for segment-leading technologies that enable break-out businesses and finance models,” says Joseph Goodman, managing partner of VoLo Earth Ventures. “In the coming months we look forward to Nth Cycle addressing cost and technology gaps for some of the largest battery recycling developers, OEMs and chemical companies."

“Refining has long been the obstacle to a broader sustainable and closed-loop metal supply chain in the U.S. and the European Union, which is why we set out to solve that problem, while offering a complementary solution for recyclers,” says Megan O’Connor, CEO and co-founder of Nth Cycle.

“In just three years, we have grown out of the lab and into a commercial facility with new deployments of our modular Oyster units in the near future. Building critical relationships with our investors, partners and policymakers has been a key part of Nth Cycle’s rapid growth to scale, and that commitment continues with this financing.”