Li-Cycle Closes Series C Round of New Financing to Fund the Development of Commercial Hub in Rochester, NY and Drive International Expansion

James McIntyre, Senior Managing Director and COO of Moore Strategic Ventures, commented: “The need for an environmentally sustainable recycling capability for lithium-ion batteries is critical. Not only does Li-Cycle’s technology accomplish this, but it does so while enhancing the local supply of essential battery materials, most notably cobalt, lithium and nickel. Importantly, Li-Cycle’s recycling technology does not use a polluting smelting process. This round of financing will enable Li-Cycle to continue to scale the business and strengthen its position as the global leader in lithium-ion battery recycling.”

Li-Cycle was founded in 2016 in Toronto, Ontario with the vision to solve the global end-of-life lithium-ion battery problem and creating a secondary supply to meet the demand for critical battery materials through innovative recycling technology. Historically, most lithium-ion battery recycling processes have treated the product as waste and a liability. Li-Cycle has reinvented the recycling process by developing and validating a patented technology that enables recoveries of at least 95% of all materials found in lithium-ion batteries through an innovative, zero-waste process. This compares to the industry norm of less than 50% recovery. The company is capable of processing all types of lithium-ion batteries used in electronic devices, e-mobility, electric vehicles and other energy storage applications.

As the first step in Li-Cycle’s patented, two-part Spoke and Hub process, batteries are shipped to an initial ‘Spoke’ location, where the materials are mechanically processed by Li-Cycle’s safe-size reduction technology. The material is then safely transported to a second ‘Hub’ location, where the intermediate product from the Spoke is put through a hydrometallurgical, or wet chemistry, process. The resulting components are then returned to their original, battery-grade chemical states, including lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and more for reintegration into the lithium-ion battery supply chain.

Today, Li-Cycle is the largest lithium-ion battery recycler in North America, with 10,000 tons/yr of Spoke capacity. This is equivalent to a capacity to process over 1 GWh of batteries per year. Li-Cycle’s Spoke facility in Kingston, Ontario is operational, and the company is commissioning a second Spoke facility in Rochester, New York, which it plans to be operational during Q4 2020. Li-Cycle is also developing a Hub facility to be located in close proximity to its Rochester Spoke facility.

Jett Capital advisors LLC acted as financial advisor, and McCarthy Tetrault LLP and Freshfields Bruchhaus Deringer US LLP acted as legal advisors, to Li-Cycle in connection with this transaction.