Renewable Metals, an Australia-based lithium-ion battery recycling company, has secured AU$12 million (~$8.6 million) in an oversubscribed Series A funding round. The funding increased from an initial AU$8 million (~$5.7 million) target, bringing the company’s total funding to over AU$38 million (~$27 million) since inception.

The round was led by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, and managed by Virescent Ventures, with participation from Neglected Climate Opportunities, Climate Tech Partners, Investible, and European Metal Recycling.

Renewable Metals has developed an alkali-based hydrometallurgical process to recover lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, and manganese from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries.

The company reports recovery rates exceeding 95%, including up to 30% higher lithium recovery compared to conventional acid-based methods, while also achieving lower costs and a reduced environmental footprint.

The funding will be used to support the company’s transition toward commercial-scale deployment. A key focus will be enabling continuous operations at its commercial prototype facility in Kewdale, Western Australia, which is expected to operate at an initial capacity of 960 tons per annum and ramp up to 2,000 tons per annum. The plant is scheduled to begin full operations in mid-2026.

“By delivering high recovery at low cost without large, centralized facilities, we can build plants sized for near-term feedstock, and scale with the market over time. This avoids capital-intensive overbuild while enabling a distributed network close to feedstock sources globally, reducing the cost and complexity of transporting hazardous materials,” said Luan Atkinson, CEO at Renewable Metals.

In addition, the funding will support the Front-End Engineering and Design study for Renewable Metals’ first commercial-scale facility planned in New South Wales. The company is also expected to expand its research, engineering, and commercial teams to support its growth strategy.

According to Mercom’s Annual and Q4 2025 Funding and M&A for Energy Storage report, VC funding for the battery recycling sector increased by around 8% in 2025 compared to 2024.

In 2025, Battery recycling firm Redwood Materials closed a $350 million Series E funding round, led by Eclipse, with participation from NVentures, the venture capital arm of NVIDIA, and other new strategic investors.