cylib has developed in long year research the most innovative, efficient and sustainable technology for lithium-ion battery recycling.

cylib recovers most raw materials during the recycling process, delivering a battery recycling efficiency of 90%.

Seed — World Fund led cylib’s €8 million Seed Extension round in February 2023
‍Series A — World Fund co-led cylib’s  €55 million Series A round in May 2024

Why we invested in:

• The climate case: EVs are the future, yet mining the minerals needed for batteries comes with environmental downsides. Recouping and reusing essential metals such as lithium, nickel and cobalt is still not market standard. cylib has developed a water and CO2-based process, which allows for clean and sustainable lithium and graphite recovery, with an overall recycling efficiency of 90% for the whole battery.‍
• The business case: Demand for lithium is surging – expected to reach 1.5 million metric tons by 2025 and over 3 million tons by 2030. At the same time, regulators are stepping in. The European Union is introducing recycling rates for batteries, which will require 65% of the materials in batteries to be recycled by 2025. Most current tech providers can’t deliver on these set targets. Battery manufacturers need partners like cylib to achieve them.
• ‍The team: cylib CEO, Lilian Schwich began her career as a scientist, focussing on process metallurgy, metal and battery recycling. COO, Dr. Gideon Schwich began his career in academia at RWTH Aachen and has previously worked at Thyssenkrupp, Access EV and umlaut. CTO, Paul Sabarny is a specialist in raw materials engineering, having worked in academia before co-founding cylib.

Website: www.cylib.de