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As electric vehicles flood European roads, and more tech than ever is used in our homes, a new problem is emerging: what happens to all those batteries when they die? Estonian startup Jälle Technologies thinks they have the answer, and has racked up €2M in funding this week.
By 2030, the EU expects over 230,000 tonnes of dead lithium-ion batteries annually—that’s 70 times more than in 2020. Most of these will come from electric vehicles as the EV boom reaches its peak.
The numbers are big, but so are the opportunities. The EU battery recycling market could be worth €15 billion by 2032. Today’s battery recycling facilities can only achieve about 65-70% efficiency at best, with many older facilities performing even worse.
The EU’s new regulations are raising the bar significantly, requiring 70% overall recycling efficiency by 2031, 95% recovery of valuable metals like cobalt, copper, and nickel, and 80% recovery of lithium (currently only 30-40% in most facilities).
Jälle team (top to bottom, left to right): CTO Kerli Liivand, Phd, co-founder Reio Praats, co-founder Martin Jantson, CEO Erki Ani
The Estonian solution
Located in Tallinn, Jälle Technologies was founded by a team of scientists from Estonia’s National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics. Most battery recycling focuses on extracting valuable metals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel.
Jälle does that too, but they go further. The team figured out how to transform discarded graphite from old batteries into graphene-like materials. Graphene is, essentially, a super-material: incredibly strong, conducts electricity, and more flexible than almost anything else.
“While the whole world is geared towards electrification, energy storage needs are inevitably on the rise,” explains CEO Erki Ani. “What happens with these batteries once they’ve reached the end of their life? With Jälle we are looking a few steps ahead of the curve to be ready for the ‘tidal wave of dead batteries’.” The company is making a big bet on being practical. “Our focus is on making sure what we build isn’t just great science but something the industry can rely on,” says CTO Kerli Liivand.
The €2M funding round brings together government backing through Enterprise Estonia, along with early-stage equity investment from Kiilto Ventures and 2C Ventures, plus experienced angel investors. “Battery recycling is no longer optional,” says Hendrik Reimand from 2C Ventures.
As a part of this round, Jälle Technologies has also secured a groundbreaking investment from Norrsken Evolve, the company announced on August 18. This deal marks Swedish fund’s first-ever investment in Estonian technology sector. Norrsken, founded by Niklas Adalberth (co-founder of payments giant Klarna), has become one of Europe’s most prestigious impact investors, focusing on companies that can create both profit and positive global change. The Norrsken Evolve program, backed by a newly raised €57M fund, specifically targets early-stage European companies with science-based solutions that can achieve scalable impact. Being selected as one of only 12 companies from over 3,000 global applicants places Jälle in an elite cohort of the most promising impact-driven startups in Europe.
