Nio Capital backs China battery recycling start-up
Nio Capital has led a Series A for China-based battery recycling start-up Ruilong Technology. The company did not disclose the exact size of the round, merely saying it amounted to several hundreds of millions of renminbi.
Other investors include Guangzhou-based Hanhui Capital and Midea Capital, a unit of Midea Group. The fresh capital will go towards the expansion of waste battery purchasing channels and the development of technology to maintain cost controls and competitive moats.
Established in Ganzhou, Jiangxi province, which is famous for its lithium resources, Ruilong began making batteries in 2016. Last year, it was included on the government’s whitelist for battery recycling.
The company has the capacity to process thousands of tonnes of battery packs every year. It focuses on the hydrometallurgy method - which involves using water-based solutions to recover metals from waste batteries - and claims to have achieved a 98% recovery rate for nickel and cobalt and over 90% for lithium. All processes comply with environmental protection regulations.
Local research firm GGII estimates that demand from markets like China will propel the global waste power recycling market to USD 15bn by 2025, much of it battery related. In the first 11 months of 2022, sales of new energy vehicles in the country reached 6m units, twice the volume for the same period in 2021. Sales amounted to one-quarter of overall new car sales.
At the same time, rising raw material prices have increased the profit margins for battery recycling in the past year. This has prompted more car and battery manufacturers, as well as third parties, to enter the space. According to iLiMarkets, a consulting firm that specialises in lithium, battery recycling will generate more related metals than primary mines by 2040.
Deepblue Partners served as the exclusive financial advisor for Ruilong's Series A round.
More on Greater China
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.