Toronto, Ontario — Cyclic Materials has successfully closed an oversubscribed US$53m series B equity round, the company announced on Wednesday.
The funding round was led by ArcTern Ventures and supported by new investors: BDC Capital’s Climate Tech Fund, Hitachi Ventures, Zero Infinity Partners, Climate Investment and Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund. Existing investors Fifth Wall, BMW iVentures, Energy Impact Partners and Planetary Technologies also participated in the round.
The funding brings Cyclic Materials’ total equity raised to more than US$83 million, enabling the company to fast-track international growth, it said in a press release. Cyclic Materials will deploy this capital to build rare earth recycling infrastructure in the United States and Europe and grow its team to support operations.
The Series B funding follows a US$3.6 million grant from Natural Resources Canada that supports the continued operation of Cyclic Materials’ commercial demonstration facility (Hub100) for producing high-purity REEs from recycled magnet material and preparing for scaling to larger operations. These recent public and private investments demonstrate the surging interest in funding companies with technology proven to address climate change and sustainable development.
“We’re energized to partner with the world’s top sustainability-focused infrastructure and corporate investors to scale our technology’s impact,” said Ahmad Ghahreman, CEO and co-founder of Cyclic Materials. “This funding underscores the confidence in our ability to create the circular economy for rare earths needed for the clean energy transition. Not only is our technology essential for supporting sustainable domestic production of rare earths, but it will also play a critical role in re-establishing North American and European leadership in the rare earths industry.”
Cyclic Materials’ recycling process of these rare earth materials from magnets achieves significant environmental benefits compared to the traditional mining process, said the company. This includes a “reduced carbon footprint and unparalleled water efficiency,” it added.
“We seek to partner with visionary founders and technology companies that share our commitment to tackling sustainability challenges with innovative solutions,” said Marc Faucher, managing partner at ArcTern Ventures. “Cyclic Materials’ mission-driven approach to the circular economy combined with its proprietary rare earth metals recycling processes offers a scalable decarbonization solution that contributes to the abatement of greenhouse gas emissions. This alignment with our impact-driven investment strategy is why we chose them to become a part of ArcTern’s investment portfolio.”
“The opportunity to invest in companies like Cyclic Materials at this stage of development and scaling is scarce,” said Tobias Jahn, Partner at Hitachi Ventures. “We are impressed with their high growth potential, strong leadership, proprietary extraction processes from electronic and industrial waste, and commitment to overcoming the limited availability of rare earth elements essential for various technologies in today’s electrification era.”
Cyclic Materials will sponsor and exhibit at the Ontario Automotive Recyclers Association (OARA) Convention and Trade Show next March. Click here for more information on the event.
