In 1991, Sony released the first rechargeable lithium-ion battery. The unique chemistry proved to be a game-changer in energy storage. Today, everything from electric vehicles to smartphones depends on it, and demand depends on it explodes.
But lithium is rare, most of it comes from unstable markets outside Europe, and its extraction can cause significant environmental pollution. We need more lithium to enable the green transition, and yet its use is currently neither environmentally nor economically sustainable.
We are stuck in a paradox. The Munich startup Tozero sees a way out in battery recycling.
Battery recycling is far from a new concept, but the German company claims its technology does the job more efficiently than existing methods and without the use of harmful acids.
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Tozero was founded in 2022 by serial entrepreneur Sarah Fleischer and metallurgy expert Dr. Ksenija Milicevic Neumann founded. When the two first met, they worked in the space industry. Three years later, they joined forces to solve an urgent problem here on Earth.
Before founding Tozero, Neumann worked for years at RWTH Aachen University and developed a groundbreaking water-based carbonization process for extracting lithium and other elements such as graphite from black mass. This powdery substance is created when waste batteries are shredded and processed.
Neumann's research gave Tozero a significant lead. In just two years, the company managed to break out of the laboratory and deliver the first batches of recycled lithium to customers. And today the company announced it has raised €11 million in Series A funding to expand rapidly.
“Despite our limited resources, as a two-year-old startup, we have already made human history by being the first to ever supply recycled lithium for end products in Europe,” said Fleischer, CEO of the company.
NordicNinja, a Japanese-backed European VC fund, led the funding round, bringing Tozero's total proceeds to a hefty €17 million. Other investors include automotive giant Honda, US venture company In-Q-Tel and mechanical engineering group JGC.
Tozero will use the fresh capital to build its first industrial deployment facility. From 2026, the company plans to process 30,000 tons of battery waste annually.
Technically, Tozero can simply continue to grow as long as it is continuously supplied with old batteries. And that shouldn't be too much of a problem.
Lithium-ion production is about to end quadruple by 2030. Regulations like those of the EU now apply Battery Policy– which calls for at least 80% of lithium to be recovered from batteries by 2031 – creates much-needed incentives. That's only good news for Tozero and other recycling newbies. including Cylib, which is currently under construction Europe's largest recycling plant for electric vehicle batteries.
However, if Europe wants to ensure a sustainable supply of the urgently needed lithium, it must do this Expansion of local mining and explore new battery technologies such as sodium-ion, zinc-ion and the holy grail – solid-state batteries.
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