Electronic waste recycling firm Descycle has secured nearly £4.9m investment, including the backing of senior mining industry executives and the North East's Centre for Process Industry.
The innovator has developed metals technologies based on a chemistry known as Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES) and is targeting recycling of 'e-waste' - electronic products such as computers and stereos - replacing carbon intensive smelting. The University of Leicester spin-out is currently using the Centre for Process Industry's (CPI) Darlington labs and is aiming to develop a demonstrator plant at Wilton on Teesside later this year, before plans to rollout commercial plants, the first of which will be in Gateshead via a joint venture with GAP Group.
Funding in this pre-Series A round was led by UK Venture Capital group TSP Ventures, and US and UK venture capital funds including Deep Future, Kero Development Partners and Green Angel Syndicate, as well as prominent minerals industry names Mark Cutifani, former CEO of Anglo American, and Stephen McIntosh, former head of innovation at Rio Tinto. The £4.85m injection means Descycle can now focus on commercialisation of its technology, which starts with the design of a large-scale pilot plant on Teesside before the setting up of the £8.05m ($10m) Gateshead site in 2024, which is estimated could handle 5,000 tonnes of waste each year and generate revenues of £62.8m ($78m).
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Around 10 full time equivalent scientists and engineers are employed by CPI on the Descycle project, which has so far trialled the chemistry to prove it provides a low cost and zero-emission method for recycling and recovering valuable metals. The firm hopes the method can disrupt the metals industry and "unlock" supplies of critical minerals.
Leo Howden, Descycle managing director, said: "2023 will be an incredibly important year for Descycle, seeing major milestones achieved and significant commercial advancements. We are delighted with the level of interest this Funding Round has generated, which includes highly credible investors from some of the leading names in the clean tech and deep tech VC sectors and the metals industry. This shows how far our technology has come and how much potential it has as a sustainable metal recycling and recovery solution.
“We have a unique, highly disruptive, sustainable technology, with a clear path to commercialisation. The success of the technology is underpinned by the high calibre of our team and the commitment of our investors, and we are excited for the future of the company.”
In its partnership with GAP Group, Descycle hopes to set up a second commercial plant outside of the North East. And the firm has signalled it is in discussions about future expansion in the US, Europe, Singapore, Vietnam and Australia.
Chris Smith, CEO of TSP Ventures, added: "We are delighted to be joining the Descycle team on their onward journey as they prove and scale their transformative technology. By enabling low cost, low carbon recovery of key metals from e-waste, Descycle are solving two major environmental problems; first, the displacement of the incumbent dirty, energy intensive processes and second, ensuring we have access to the critical metals we need to deliver the green transition.
"Both are crucial. Descycle has a great management team, and we look forward to helping them in any way we can as they grow the business."
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