cylib closes €3.6M Seed round to revolutionize battery recycling
● Proprietary technology enables green battery recycling
● Scale-up of IP-protected process developed at RWTH Aachen University
● Construction of a pilot plant in Aachen in preparation
● Vsquared Ventures and Speedinvest as investors
Aachen, Germany, October 14, 2022 - The RWTH Aachen University spin-off cylib has received a €3.6 million capital injection to make the recycling of lithium-ion batteries more efficient and environmentally friendly. With its unique technology, cylib will help close the growing recycling gap in the European battery market.
CEO Lilian Schwich, CTO Paul Sabarny and their team have developed a new proprietary eco-efficient recycling method. Both scientists were crucial in building the battery recycling group at IME of RWTH Aachen University, a powerhouse in battery recycling research. They are now determined to industrialize the processes developed by the group over several years, in order to solve one of the core problems in e-mobility.
"Today’s battery production is not green. With our recycling process we enable the future production of sustainable battery cells," says CEO Lilian Schwich. “For the huge amount of batteries that will be required for electromobility in the future, a circular economy is required. Our holistic approach to recycling helps protect people, environment, and climate as much as possible.”
Delivering green recycling results beyond EU regulatory requirements
Conventional recycling processes fail to recover key resources and have a heavy ecological footprint, releasing large amounts of CO2 and requiring the extensive use of chemicals.
This makes most of these processes unsuitable to meet the regulatory requirements that the EU hopes to achieve in coming years.
In contrast, cylib’s recycling process is able to extract all the materials from a lithium-ion-battery with unprecedented efficiency and in an environmentally friendly way. Reusing emitted CO2 and eliminating the need for chemicals to recover lithium and graphite makes cylib’s approach the most efficient and sustainable on the planet.
The annual volume of end-of-life batteries in the EU is expected to increase 13-fold to 1.4 million tons in 2040. Even taking into account the most positive recycling capacity forecast, it is quite apparent that we will face an enormous recycling gap. Cylib’s solution will play a significant role in closing this gap. With this seed capital, the company plans to set up a pilot factory in Aachen, in order to industrialize the new recycling process together with partners from different sectors.
“We are currently in talks with various companies about strategic partnerships. These include automotive OEMs, cell producers, and raw material suppliers.” says Co-Founder and COO Dr. Gideon Schwich.
Battery-savvy deep tech investors, pilot factory planned in Aachen
"We were impressed by the founders’ longstanding experience in battery recycling research, combined with their work in the industry. The team around Lilian Schwich has been working and consulting for leading battery-related companies for the past few years and therefore knows the challenges and potential solutions of this industry. This is a combination we have not seen so far and we think this is going to be crucial when it comes to building up the leading battery recycling firm," says Dr. Herbert Mangesius from Vsquared Ventures. The Munich-based deep tech fund has invested extensively in the battery space, in companies such as CUSTOMCELLS and Group14 Technologies.
Andrej Henkler, experienced business angel, adds, “Europe is the ideal starting point to build out category leaders in the lithium-ion-battery recycling industry. Cylib’s superior technology, their relationships with established battery players, and the fact that they meet all the regulatory requirements already now set them up for long term success.”
Other investors include Lawrence Leuschner with Blue Impact Ventures, Lieferando founder Kai Hansen, CUSTOMCELLS founders Torge Thönnessen and Leopold König, Silexica founder Maximilian Odendahl, and Karim Jalbout, CPO at Lilium.
About cylib
cylib GmbH is a start-up for holistic battery recycling. cylib's proprietary end-to-end process is characterized by the efficient, resource- and climate-friendly recovery of all valuable elements in an electric car battery from pack to cell level. Due to the process developed over many years of research at RWTH Aachen University, the cylib process is accompanied by reduced CO2 emissions. The company was founded in Aachen in 2022 by Lilian Schwich (CEO), Paul Sabarny (CTO) and Dr. Ing. Gideon Schwich (COO).
For more information visit: www.cylib.de
About Vsquared
Vsquared backs entrepreneurs who engineer seemingly impossible solutions to the world’s most challenging problems. With our deep-tech funds, we partner with global leaders such as Group14 Technologies, Isar Aerospace, Zama AI, IQM Quantum Computers, or CUSTOMCELLS. We firmly believe that the next-gen champions are emerging out of the unique market and tech potential of Europe. Learn more at www.vsquared.vc
About Speedinvest
Speedinvest is a leading early-stage venture capital firm with more than €600M AuM and 40 investors based in Berlin, London, Munich, Paris, and Vienna. Our dedicated sector-focused teams are the first to fund Europe's most innovative technology start-ups and our in-house operational experts are on hand to offer founders ongoing support with growth, HR, US market expansion, and more. Wefox, Bitpanda, TIER Mobility, GoStudent, Wayflyer, Open, CoachHub, Schüttflix, TourRadar, Adverity, and Twaice are among our portfolio of 250+ companies. Learn more at www.speedinvest.com
Press contact
Dr. Torben Pfau
Story Factory GmbH
Phone: +49 241 51 88 65 20
Email: pfau@story-fabrik.com