Cologne-based METYCLE, a digital platform for international secondary metal trade, today announced the successful closure of its €14.1 million Series A funding round to develop AI backbone for the metal recycling industry.
The round was led by 2150 with strong continuous investment from existing investors DFF Ventures, Market One Capital, Partech, and Project A.
“Metal recycling is crucial for the transition to a carbon-neutral world. Recycling does not only ensure circularity of metals, but also helps to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up 95% compared to primary metal production,” says Rafael Suchan, Co-founder of METYCLE. “Today, already more than one third of global metal production is based on recycled metals and METYCLE makes the global metal recycling industry more efficient and transparent with the help of state-of-the-art technology.”
Founded in 2022 by Sebastian Brenner and Rafael Suchan, METYCLE is a managed marketplace for secondary metals, connecting collectors with metal recyclers and smelters worldwide. The platform handles the entire trading process, including quality assurance, logistics, and payment processing.
The company will use the new funds to develop further its data, software, and AI backbone for the metal recycling industry. METYCLE will introduce technologies to the secondary metals industry transforming end-of-life metals from heterogeneous products into highly specified global commodities.
“Our platform is revolutionizing how secondary metals are traded globally,” added Sebastian Brenner, Co-founder of METYCLE. “By rolling out METYCLE’s AI-based sorting and quality certification, we’re creating unprecedented transparency and trust in the metal recycling industry.”
According to METCYCLE, demand for recycled metals is surging globally in response to ambitious sustainability goals seeking to reduce the metal production’s carbon footprint, which accounts for 11% of global CO2 emissions.
Targets such as the EU’s Critical Raw Materials act or Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, have set recycling targets, demanding improvements to current recycling and management processes. Concerningly, rising demand for high-quality scrap outpaces supply, with a 15 million tonne deficit anticipated by 2030.
METYCLE’s proprietary AI-powered sorting process determines the physical and chemical properties of shredded recyclable metals in real-time – representing a significant reduction in manual labour and CO2 emissions as well as improved recycling ratios and material recovery.
The startup’s ability to integrate market data alongside this sorting process into their digital platform enables those products with the highest demand to be identified from the outset, ensuring better resource allocation.
The default process for managing and trading recycled metals involves lengthy, often inefficient trade routes to major hubs which incurs significant carbon emissions and delays. In contrast, METYCLE’s Smart Sorting Hubs are able to produce efficient, direct routes for these materials, so that where possible they can remain within the local region.
“We were blown away by these incredible entrepreneurs,” commented Rahul Parekh, Partner at 2150. “Rafael and Sebastian are outstanding operators and we believe there is no one better placed than them to enable a circular economy for industrial metals and unlock the potential of urban mines.”
“Since leading their Seed round, we continue to be impressed by the METYCLE team’s exceptional execution, as evidenced by their impressive commercial success. We are pleased that this new round of financing enables them to deepen their smart sorting strategy and increase transparency, advancing the industry towards circularity”, added Philipp Werner, Partner at Project A.
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2025/02/metycle-raises-e14-million-to-expand-platform-for-global-metal-recycling/
