Renewable Metals Secures $12M Funding

Why this is here: The startup’s process eliminates intermediate black mass production, a step typically done in China and other parts of Asia, by processing batteries as received without pre-sorting.

Renewable Metals, an Australian battery recycling startup, received an oversubscribed 12 million Australian dollar Series A funding round. The Perth-based company plans to use the investment to operate a prototype plant in Kewdale, Western Australia, starting mid-2026. This plant aims to recycle up to 2000 tonnes of batteries annually, equivalent to roughly 4000 electric vehicle batteries.

Investors in this round include the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, European Metals Recycling, and Virescent Ventures. Renewable Metals developed a process that can handle multiple battery chemistries—NMC, LCO, and LFP—on a single processing line, avoiding the need for pre-sorting or black mass production currently concentrated in Asia.

The company intends to build modular, scalable plants, initially in Western Australia and later in the Hunter region of New South Wales. While the technology shows promise in lowering costs and reducing waste, the prototype plant needs to run for several years to validate performance and finalize the design for larger commercial facilities.