Cologne, Germany-based METYCLE, a marketplace for international secondary metal trade, announced on Thursday that it has secured $5M (approximately €4.7M) in a Seed round of funding.
The latest funding round was led by Project A with the participation of Partech and existing investors like Market One Capital and the Dutch Founders Fund (DFF).
Many renowned industry angel investors, such as Anne-Marie Großmann (GMH Group), Gisbert Rühl (ex-CEO of Klöckner & Co.), Christoph Cordes (Flink), and Philipp Andernach (Antunnacum), also participated in the round.
The German company wants to enter the $600 billion global market for secondary post-consumer metals.
To achieve this, METYCLE will use the funds to accelerate go-to-market, expand into new geographies, and develop technology and AI-based enhanced quality control measures critical to the secondary metals industry.
METYCLE: Metal trading platform
Co-founded by Rafael Suchan and Sebastian Brenner (formerly Bayer, Lanxess, Syngenta, and CheMondis) in 2022, METYCLE is a managed marketplace to trade secondary metals internationally.
The company’s platform allows buyers and sellers to trade metals and mixed metals, from steel to aluminium to copper and other non-ferrous metals.
METYCLE digitises the path to more recycling, helping to collect and reuse materials and reducing the need to mine primary raw materials.
“Metal recycles forever without quality loss. It’s a key reusable commodity for infrastructure and investment goods production and the key material for the green energy transition towards a carbon-neutral world,” says Rafael Suchan, Co-Founder of METYCLE. “We want to ensure that the highest amount of metals possible are recycled properly, safely, and beneficial to the environment.
Currently, METYCLE sources material across Europe but is expanding to source from North America.
Through this platform, the company aims to streamline the trade-in of secondary metals globally, which is highly fragmented, intransparent, and characterised by low levels of trust.
For suppliers, METYCLE takes the hassle out of negotiating, monitoring payment, and logistics flows when selling metals.
The marketplace provides buyers access to the highest quality material, payment options, and terms.
METYCLE has also signed a partnership with finmid for trade financing.
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with METYCLE to help make transactions simpler and more secure for their customers, helping to facilitate more efficient trading of secondary metals,” says Max Schertel, Co-Founder at finmid.
“By combining finmid technology with METYCLE ambition to digitise the metal recycling industry, together we are improving transparency and trust in trade within the industry globally,” adds Schertel.
METYCLE also conducts quality control and handles the shipping process, which the parties can track live.
The investor
Founded in 2012, Project A is an early-stage tech investor in Europe with offices in Berlin and London.
In addition to $1B assets under management, Project A supports its portfolio companies with a platform team of over 140 functional experts in software and product development, business intelligence, brand, design, marketing, sales, and recruiting.
The VC has backed over 100 startups, including Trade Republic, WorldRemit, sennder, KRY, Spryker, Catawiki, Unmind, and Voi.
“We are incredibly excited to support the team behind METYCLE, as they possess the industry experience that we deem crucial for unlocking this immense opportunity within the metal recycling industry. The team’s remarkable progress within a short period serves as a true testament to their exceptional execution capabilities”, adds Philipp Werner, Partner at Project A.
Read the orginal article: https://siliconcanals.com/news/startups/german-metycle-raises-4-7m/
