Tech-driven recycling company SOLARCYCLE announced that it has raised $30 million in Series A funding.
The funds, which include company equity and infrastructure financing, will be used to scale up the company’s growth in solar panel recycling capacity and expand materials remanufacturing capabilities.
The round was led by Fifth Wall and HG Ventures, with participation from Prologis Ventures, Urban Innovation Fund, and Closed Loop Partners.
SOLARCYCLE, founded in 2022 by experts in panel manufacturing, advanced recycling, and climate technology, aims to create a more sustainable, domestic supply chain for the solar industry.
With solar adoption expected to accelerate over the next decade, SOLARCYCLE has developed proprietary technology that can cost-effectively return more than 95% of all valuable materials back into the solar value chain, including aluminum, glass, copper, silver, and silicon.
The infrastructure financing, led by Fifth Wall Infrastructure and Special Situations Partner Alok Sindher, provides asset-level equity capital for SOLARCYCLE’s first-of-a-kind Odessa, Texas factory. Fifth Wall’s complementary venture and infrastructure investments address a critical gap in investment for hardware-intensive businesses.
“SOLARCYCLE is the only company within North America aiming to do true, end-to-end solar panel recycling. Their deep solar industry partnerships and ability to extract valuable materials at reasonable cost, with efficient logistics, is what differentiates the company’s position,” said Peter Gajdoš, Partner and Co-Head of The Climate Tech Investment Team at Fifth Wall.
SOLARCYCLE plans to install capacity to recycle one million solar panels per year by the end of 2023 and open a vertically integrated, advanced recycling factory capable of processing millions of panels annually in 2024.
The company works with residential, commercial, and industrial (C&I) and utility companies to recycle solar panels at scale. Recent research projects that recyclable materials from solar panels will be worth more than $2.7 billion by 2030, up from $170 million this year.
“We are delighted to support SOLARCYCLE’s world-class team developing a business model that is both an economic opportunity and an environmental necessity,” said Kip Frey, Managing Director of HG Ventures. – BusinessNewsAsia.com