Copenhagen-based startup Nordic Salt Cycle has raised €3.5 million in pre-seed funding from EIFO, alongside existing investor The Footprint Firm and Germany-based Ananda Impact Ventures, to develop a molten salt-based process for recovering critical minerals from end-of-life products. The company is working on a modular technology designed to extract materials such as lithium, cobalt and rare earth elements from sources including electric vehicle batteries, wind turbines and electronics. The funding will be used to advance its prototype, run pilot projects starting with EV batteries, and assess how the technology can be applied to additional waste streams, as Europe seeks to reduce reliance on imported critical raw materials.
Founded in 2024, Nordic Salt Cycle is developing a molten salt-based process designed to separate and extract critical minerals from complex waste streams. The company says its approach is modular and intended to operate at lower cost than existing recycling technologies, which have struggled to compete economically with large-scale processing hubs in Asia.
”Our technology platform has the potential to be a game-changer in the recovery of critical materials such as lithium and rare earth elements, and we are thrilled to announce this round of funding together with our new and current investors,” says Stefan Vilner, CEO and co-founder of Nordic Salt Cycle and continues. “Working with our business partners, we can now recover critical minerals from electric vehicle batteries to start with and have the potential to develop our technology platform to a number of other areas, thereby closing the circular loop at low cost and with high scalability.”
According to the company, the new capital will be used to further develop and test its prototype system, with an initial focus on electric vehicle batteries. The funding will also support pilot projects and technical validation as the company evaluates the application of its technology to other sources of end-of-life materials, including permanent magnets and industrial components.
James Amphlett, CTO of Nordic Salt Cycle, adds: ”Our prototype is up and running, and we have demonstrated that our molten salt technology can separate and extract materials much more effectively than current technologies, using very little energy and significantly fewer chemicals, resulting in unique unit economics.”
The company is prioritising electric vehicle batteries as an entry point, while continuing to develop the underlying platform for broader use. Chief technology officer James Amphlett added that early testing has shown the process can separate materials using comparatively low energy input and fewer chemicals, though the technology has yet to be deployed at commercial scale.
“The green transition depends on critical materials – Nordic Salt Cycle’s breakthrough technology unlocks end-of-life batteries as a key resource for securing them. While incumbent recovery technologies are either energy-intensive or expensive, Nordic Salt Cycle’s molten salt process recovers critical materials, like lithium, in a circular, sustainable and low-cost way. We’re excited by how far the team has progressed already in its first year and are proud to continue backing their rapid scale-up.” says Phil Doolan, Partner at The Footprint Firm
For EIFO, the investment aligns with its mandate to support technologies that contribute to sustainability and European industrial resilience. The fund said access to critical raw materials is becoming increasingly important as electrification and renewable energy deployment accelerate across the region.
“The investment in Nordic Salt Cycle is directly aligned with EIFO’s strategy of investing in groundbreaking deep-tech companies that enable a more resilient and sustainable economy. We believe Nordic Salt Cycle’s platform can play a pivotal role in strengthening Europe’s capabilities in recycling and recovering critical minerals at lower cost and with reduced energy consumption”, says Axel Bjørum, Senior Investment Associate at EIFO.
Nordic Salt Cycle joins a growing group of European startups seeking to address supply-chain risks around critical minerals through recycling and recovery, an area that policymakers and industry players see as increasingly strategic for the continent’s energy transition.
“Nordic Salt Cycle stood out in our research as a platform technology with the potential to transform an entire industry. By using molten salts to recover a wide range of critical materials. not just from batteries but also rare earths, and more, the team is creating a flexible, scalable, and far cleaner alternative to traditional recycling.” says Bernd Klosterkemper, Partner at Ananda Impact Ventures.
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Read the orginal article: https://arcticstartup.com/nordic-salt-cycle-raises-e3-5-million-in-pre-seed/
