Metastable Materials, a deep-tech recycling company specialising in lithium-ion batteries, has raised Seed funding from Surge, Sequoia Capital India and Southeast Asia’s rapid scale-up program, which included participation from deep-tech VC Speciale Invest, Theia Ventures and other angels that include Akshay Singhal, (co-founder and CEO of Log9), Kartik Hajela (co-founder and COO of Log9), Archana Priyadershini (co-founder of fwdSlash Capital) and Sanjeev Rangrass (Venture Partner of Unitus Ventures). To meet the growing operations, the new funding will be channelled into recruitment to support Metastable’s manufacturing and industrial engineering functions, as well as for managing its supply chain and day-to-day operations.

“Natural resources are finite and our collective vision of a more sustainable future will depend on our ability to first recycle and second, to do so in a way that is cost efficient, scalable and environmentally friendly. We’re proud to be pioneering a solution that safeguards our future, from providing a sustainable supply of metals for the manufacture of EV batteries to setting new benchmarks for the way metals are recycled, paving the way for new technologies and innovations that will have the power to truly move the needle in fighting climate change,” said Shubham Vishvakarma, founder.

The startup is scaling up its battery recycling capabilities and operations. In October 2022, Metastable opened a 21,000 sq ft urban mining facility located on the outskirts of Bengaluru. The facility can process 1,500 tonnes of material annually, which accounts for up to 6% of India’s recycling demand for Li-ion batteries, claimed by the company in a statement.

“We are thrilled to partner with Metastable Materials on their exciting journey as they build an innovative, scalable and greener process for rare material extraction from electronic waste. The business is excellently positioned to cater to the rapidly growing demand for these recycled materials into batteries for electric vehicles, which forms an important part of the climate tech, decarbonization and circular economy agenda for India and globally,” said Priya Shah, general partner, Theia Ventures.

Founded in October 2021 in Bengaluru by Manikumar Uppala, Saurav Goyal and Shubham Vishvakarma, Metastable Materials addresses the challenges in unit economics, scalability and sustainability that current recycling methods face.