Electronic waste recycling firm Descycle has secured nearly £4.9m investment, including the backing of senior mining industry executives and the North East's Centre for Process Industry.
The innovator has developed metals technologies based on a chemistry known as Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES) and is targeting recycling of 'e-waste' - electronic products such as computers and stereos - replacing carbon intensive smelting. The University of Leicester spin-out is currently using the Centre for Process Industry's (CPI) Darlington labs and is aiming to develop a demonstrator plant at Wilton on Teesside later this year, before plans to rollout commercial plants, the first of which will be in Gateshead via a joint venture with GAP Group.
Funding in this pre-Series A round was led by UK Venture Capital group TSP Ventures, and US and UK venture capital funds including Deep Future, Kero Development Partners and Green Angel Syndicate, as well as prominent minerals industry names Mark Cutifani, former CEO of Anglo American, and Stephen McIntosh, former head of innovation at Rio Tinto. The £4.85m injection means Descycle can now focus on commercialisation of its technology, which starts with the design of a large-scale pilot plant on Teesside before the setting up of the £8.05m ($10m) Gateshead site in 2024, which is estimated could handle 5,000 tonnes of waste each year and generate revenues of £62.8m ($78m).
