Nth Cycle, the innovative critical metals refining company, has closed $37 million in Series B and an additional $7 million in non-dilutive financing, led by VoLo Earth Ventures, a Colorado-based venture firm focused on climate solutions; MassMutual through the MM Catalyst Fund I, which invests in rural-based and Black-led businesses based in Massachusetts; Caterpillar Venture Capital Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc., the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, off-highway diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives; and Equinor Ventures, the venture capital arm of Equinor, a multinational energy company. Nth Cycle recently received two Department of Energy awards including $3 million from the Advanced Materials & Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) to drive the innovation required to strengthen America’s competitiveness in a global net-zero economy.
Nth Cycle’s patented Electro-Extraction technology replaces conventional and energy-intensive pyrometallurgy, also known as smelting, with a clean and modular refining system, aptly named The Oyster. Nth Cycle partners with industrial scrap recyclers, miners, and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to take a variety of feedstocks, including black mass, primary ore concentrates, and waste streams and refines them into metal products for the domestic clean energy economy.
Recently, Nth Cycle announced that it would be the first company in the United States to offer a domestic nickel mixed hydroxide product (Ni MHP), helping the country to meet the goals of establishing a domestic supply of critical metals crucial for the growth of electrification infrastructure established by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Nth Cycle’s Ni MHP product can help accelerate a path for EV automakers to meet domestic supply mandates set by the IRA with the benefits of transparent oversight and compliant material.
Since the company’s initial seed financing in 2021 and Series A funding round in 2022, Nth Cycle scaled its technology to commercially deploy its systems in 2022 and introduced its premium domestic Ni MHP product, in early 2023, which is expected to be the first Ni MHP offered in the United States. The financing will be used to support Nth Cycle’s commercialization through a new partner testing facility, commercial team growth and headquarters expansion.
“Caterpillar’s collaboration with Nth Cycle supports our commitment to helping our customers achieve their climate-related objectives and establishing a circular value chain,” said Rod Shurman, Senior Vice President of Electrification and Energy Solutions at Caterpillar. “Wherever possible, we keep resources in the Caterpillar value chain through a circular flow of materials, energy and water. Nth Cycle’s Electro-Extraction refining technology can help get valuable materials back into the supply chain.”
“Ensuring sustainable and secure access to materials will only grow in importance as the energy transition accelerates. Since Equinor Ventures first invested in Nth Cycle last year, we have been continuously impressed by the quality of the team and the potential of the technology. We are looking forward to continuing our support of Megan and the Nth Cycle team as we work to shape the future of energy,” says Lars Klevjer, Head of Equinor Ventures.
“Nth Cycle has developed an efficient, adaptive solution that solves a number of key pain points for its customers while delivering significant value by transforming waste products to high-purity materials,” said Jason Allen, Portfolio Manager of Impact Investments at MassMutual. “The company’s revolutionary technology, positive environmental impact, and founding team positions it to become a pillar for the cleantech ecosystem.”
“As an investor, we look for segment-leading technologies that enable break-out businesses and finance models. Nth Cycle’s modular Electro-Extraction enables advantaged development of operating assets with firm off-take agreements and 6-9 month deployment cycles. In the coming months we look forward to Nth Cycle addressing cost and technology gaps for some of the largest battery recycling developers, OEMs and chemical companies,” said Joseph Goodman, Ph.D., Managing Partner of VoLo Earth Ventures. “We are pleased to once again partner with Megan and Nth Cycle’s amazing team.”
“Refining has long been the obstacle to a broader sustainable and closed-loop metal supply chain in the U.S. and E.U., which is why we set out to solve that problem, while offering a complementary solution for recyclers,” said Megan O’Connor, Ph.D., CEO and Co-Founder of Nth Cycle. “In just three years, we have grown out of the lab and into a commercial facility with new deployments of our modular Oyster units in the near future. Building critical relationships with our investors, partners and policymakers has been a key part of Nth Cycle’s rapid growth to scale, and that commitment continues with this financing.”
About Nth Cycle
Nth Cycle is a metal refining company focused on reduction opportunities across the metal supply chain. Our patented Electro-Extraction technology provides a sustainable solution for OEMs, miners, and scrap recyclers to reduce waste, emissions, supply chain constraints, and the time needed to electrify our world. Nth Cycle’s unique refining technology transforms metal feedstock including scrap, waste streams, primary ore concentrate, and end-of-life electronics components into high-purity critical metals within a modular unit, aptly named The Oyster. Nth Cycle empowers our partners to bridge the gap between demand and supply of the metals necessary to transform our world and keep critical metals in production forever.
