DEScycle Secures €10M+ UK and European Funding for Critical Metals Recovery

DEScycle has secured more than €10 million in non-dilutive funding over the past 10 months, strengthening its position as it advances the industrial validation of its modular metals recovery platform designed to support resilient critical raw materials supply chains across the UK and Europe.

The latest awards bring the company’s total capital secured, including equity investment, grant funding, and partner contributions, to approximately £30 million as it progresses toward commercial deployment of its distributed metals processing technology.

The funding package has been awarded through several competitive UK and European innovation programmes, including €5 million from the EU Horizon programme, €2.5 million through the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator, €1.5 million from Germany’s Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation (SPRIND), £900,000 through Innovate UK Investor Partnerships, and £500,000 via a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Future Leaders Fellowship.

The funding will support several strategic workstreams as DEScycle moves toward commercial-scale deployment. These include extending operation of the company’s Teesside demonstration facility, expanding customer trial programmes, generating additional operational data to optimise plant design, integrating complementary processing technologies into its platform, and developing digital product passports to improve traceability and provenance of recovered metals.

The announcement comes as governments across the UK and Europe intensify efforts to strengthen domestic capabilities for critical raw materials, driven by growing demand from sectors including electrification, advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence infrastructure, and digital technologies.

Critical metals processing remains concentrated in a limited number of global regions, creating supply chain vulnerabilities that policymakers are increasingly seeking to address through investment in regional recycling, recovery, and refining infrastructure.

DEScycle is positioning its modular processing platform as a distributed alternative to traditional large-scale facilities by recovering critical and precious metals closer to where waste materials are generated. The company’s initial focus is on extracting valuable metals from electronic waste, converting above-ground resources into domestic supply while reducing dependence on geographically concentrated processing networks.

Construction of DEScycle’s demonstration plant is currently underway in Teesside, with commissioning targeted for the second half of 2026. The facility will serve as a key step toward validating the company’s technology under commercial operating conditions before broader deployment.

“Critical raw materials are becoming a strategic priority for both the UK and Europe, and that is creating growing demand for new metals processing infrastructure,” said Fred White, Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer at DEScycle.

“Securing more than €10 million in confirmed non-dilutive funding across competitive European and UK programmes is a strong signal of the importance of domestic metals recovery.”

White added that the funding allows the company to extend demonstration plant operations, collect more operational data, refine engineering decisions, and integrate complementary technologies before scaling commercially.

Beyond public funding, DEScycle has continued to build commercial momentum through partnerships with industrial organisations including Mitsubishi, GAP Group and Cisco. Customer trials with GAP Group and Cisco are scheduled to begin in 2026 as the company advances toward broader commercial validation.

The company has also recently raised more than £2 million in additional equity financing, primarily from existing investors alongside new shareholder Archipelago. Combined with the latest grant funding, the capital extends DEScycle’s financial runway through 2027 as it works toward achieving key techno-economic milestones and preparing for commercial rollout.

The announcement reflects broader momentum across Europe to develop domestic circular economy infrastructure capable of recovering strategic materials from end-of-life products. As governments implement critical raw materials strategies and seek greater supply chain resilience, investment in advanced recycling and metals recovery technologies is expected to play an increasingly important role in reducing dependence on primary extraction and imported processing capacity.

Source: DEScycle

SUNSHINE Spotlight: DEScycle has secured more than €10 million in competitive UK and European grant funding to accelerate industrial validation of its modular critical metals recovery platform, supporting efforts to strengthen regional supply chain resilience through domestic recycling infrastructure.