Princeton NuEnergy, a clean-tech startup company spun out from Princeton University and focused on directly recycling lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles and consumer electronics, raised $7 million in a seed funding round.

Wistron Corporation, an electronics manufacturer based in Taiwan, led the funding round with Shell Ventures, Greenland Technologies, CleanTech Open, AIBasis Fund, WorldQuant Ventures, and the angel investors.

“The capital, knowledge, and network our investors bring to PNE will enable a full-scale development of the company and accelerate our production line development,” said Dr. Yan Chao, CEO, and Co-founder of Princeton NuEnergy.

The company’s patented LPAS (low-temperature plasma-assisted separation) direct recycling process can recover up to 95% of all constituent materials found in all chemistries and formats of lithium-ion batteries. According to the company, it can reduce CO₂ emission, energy consumption, and water usage and not produce any landfill waste.

Last week, Group14 Technologies, a developer of materials that enhance the output of lithium-silicon batteries, raised $400 million in Series C funding. Porsche AG led the round with OMERS Capital Markets, Decarbonization Partners, Riverstone, Vsquared Ventures, Moore Strategic Ventures, and other institutional investors. Group14 said the new funds would enable the company to begin constructing its second plant in the U.S.

According to Mercom’s Q1 2022 Funding and M&A Report for Storage, Grid & Efficiency, total corporate funding (including VC, Debt, and Public Market Financing) in Battery Energy Storage came to $12.9 billion in 26 deals compared to $4 billion in 27 deals in Q4 2021. Funding increased significantly year-over-year compared to $4.7 billion in 18 deals in Q1 2021.