Clean Tech Focusing on Rare Earth Recycling Secures $53m to Scale Up

Hightlights

• Cyclic Materials raised $53 million to scale rare earth recycling.
• The company focuses on establishing recycling infrastructure in the US and Europe.
• It emphasizes the importance of creating a circular supply chain for clean energy.

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An advanced recycling materials venture creating a circular supply chain for rare earth elements (REEs) and other critical materials, reported last month they successfully closed an oversubscribed USD $53 million Series B equity round. Cyclic Materials (opens in a new tab), an Ontario, Canada-based advanced recycling company secured this round from 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 i Ventures, Energy Impact Partners, and Planetary Technologies also participated in the round. The venture was launched in 2021 as a metals recycling company that creates a sustainable supply chain for rare earth elements (REEs) and other metals according to a company press release (opens in a new tab).

How much has the startup raised?

$83 million

What will it use its funding for?

It seeks to fast-track its international growth. Cyclic Materials will deploy this capital to build rare earth recycling infrastructure in the US and Europe, and grow its team to support its world-class operations.

Point of View

Ahmad Ghahreman (opens in a new tab), CEO and Co-Founder of Cyclic Materials went on the record “We’re energized to partner with the world’s top sustainability-focused infrastructure and corporate investors to scale our technology’s impact.”

“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.”

The Mission

Importantly, Cyclic Materials’ process of recycling these rare earth materials from magnets achieves significant environmental benefits in comparison to traditional mining processes, including a reduced carbon footprint and unparalleled water efficiency.

Background funding.

The Series B funding follows a USD $3.6 million grant award 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.

The Venture

Established in 2021, Cyclic Materials’ proprietary technologies are capable of economically and sustainably recovering critical raw materials from end-of-life electric vehicle motors, wind turbines, MRI machines, and data center electronic waste. Over the past year, the company forged strategic partnerships with key industry leaders such as Solvay, Vattenfall, Synetiq, and VACUUMSCHMELZE (opens in a new tab) to recycle magnets containing REEs and establish a circular supply chain.

Established in 2021, Cyclic Materials (opens in a new tab) is a cleantech company creating a circular supply chain for rare earth elements (REEs) and other critical materials for supporting the clean energy transition. Through its innovative technology, the company economically, sustainably, and domestically transforms end-of-life products into valuable raw materials that are essential to the production of electric vehicles, wind turbines, and motors for the electronics we use in our daily lives.

In 2023, Cyclic Materials commissioned a commercial demonstration facility of the first stage of its process, to recover rare earth magnets from end-of-life materials using the proprietary process, Mag-Cycle™. In 2024, Cyclic Materials opened a second commercial demonstration facility, for the second stage of its process, in Kingston, Ontario where Mixed Rare Earth Oxide is produced using its proprietary hydrometallurgical technology, REEPure™. With the global market for magnets containing REEs forecasted to increase dramatically by 2030, establishing new sources of these critical materials is vital to support the electrification of the global economy. Cyclic Materials is scaling its technology across North America, Europe, and Asia.

Some of the investors POV:

Investor	Quote
Marc Faucher, Managing Partner at ArcTern Ventures	We seek to partner with visionary founders and technology companies that share our commitment to tackling sustainability challenges with innovative solutions.” Faucher continued “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.
Tobias Jahn, Partner at Hitachi Ventures	“The opportunity to invest in companies like Cyclic Materials at this stage of development and scaling is scarce.” On the reality “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.”