What tozero does

tozero is a Munich-based, privately held German GmbH founded in 2022 by Sarah Fleischer (CEO) and Dr. Ksenija Milicevic Neumann (CTO) that has developed a proprietary acid-free hydrometallurgical recycling process to recover critical raw materials — lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and graphite — from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries. The technology processes black mass (rather than whole batteries, with mechanical disassembly outsourced to partners) in a single cycle without strong acids, achieving >80% recovery rates for both lithium and graphite at industrial scale and reducing CO2 emissions by an estimated ~70% versus conventional virgin lithium mining. The company's product portfolio comprises the core recycling process, three recovered-material outputs (battery-grade lithium carbonate, battery-grade graphite, and nickel-cobalt mix), and two operational facilities: the Munich pilot plant (opened July 2023, the source of the first European commercial recycled-lithium delivery in April 2024) and the First-Of-A-Kind commercial demonstration plant at Chemical Park Gendorf in Upper Bavaria (leased July 2025, launched March 2026, processing 1,500+ tonnes of battery waste per year toward a 45,000 t/yr full-scale target by 2030).

Revenue is generated through direct B2B enterprise sales of recycled materials to industrial buyers in battery manufacturing, eMobility, ceramics, construction, and lubricants, supplemented by non-dilutive public grants (notably a €2.5M EIC Accelerator award). Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed. Go-to-market combines direct enterprise sales with strategic feedstock partnerships (battery waste suppliers across 10+ countries), EPC partnerships for international deployment (JGC JAPAN for Japan), and pilot qualification collaborations with OEMs (BMW, MAN, Webasto) through Circular Republic. Through November 2024, tozero had raised approximately €17M across a €3.5M pre-seed (Atlantic Labs, 2022), the €2.5M EIC grant (2024), and an oversubscribed €11M seed (NordicNinja lead, with In-Q-Tel, Honda, and JGC Group joining in 2024). Customer concentration is moderate, reflecting early commercial scale and a deliberately diversified end-market across battery manufacturers, automotive OEMs, and non-battery industrial buyers, though pilots remain anchored by a small number of EU automotive partners.

Name

tozero

Legal name

tozero GmbH

Website

https://tozero.solutions

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

tozero is a Munich-based climate tech company that uses a proprietary acid-free hydrometallurgical process to recover lithium, graphite, and nickel-cobalt from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries, selling these battery-grade recycled materials to industrial customers in battery manufacturing, eMobility, ceramics, construction, and lubricants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Battery Recycling

NAICS

Materials Recovery Facilities (562920), Materials Recovery Facilities (56292), Battery Manufacturing (33591)

SIC

Refuse Systems (4953)

akta.pro primary industry

Hydrometallurgical Recycling & Refining (Leaching, Solvent Extraction, Precipitation) (EUAFACAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Battery Materials Refining & Re-Manufacturing Feedstocks (Li, Ni, Co, Mn, Graphite Salts) (EUAIAIAJ), Collection, Logistics & Reverse Supply Chain (Transport, Sorting, Tracking) (EUAFACAA)

Keywords

• Lithium-ion battery recycling
• Hydrometallurgical recycling
• Recycled lithium carbonate
• Recycled battery graphite
• Critical raw materials recovery

Headquarters

HQ city

Munich

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Sale of recycled battery-grade materials: Commercial sale of high-purity recycled materials — including lithium carbonate, graphite, and nickel-cobalt mix — to industrial customers in battery manufacturing, eMobility, ceramics, construction, and lubricants sectors. First commercial delivery occurred in April 2024, with company targeting hundreds of tonnes of recycled lithium by 2026 and over 2,000 tonnes of recycled graphite by 2027.
2. Public grants and non-dilutive funding: Non-dilutive funding from public sources, including a €2.5 million grant from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator program under Horizon Europe.

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

tozero operates a proprietary acid-free hydrometallurgical recycling process that recovers critical raw materials (lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and graphite) from all types of lithium-ion batteries in a single cycle. The company sells high-purity battery-grade recycled lithium carbonate, graphite, and nickel-cobalt mix to industrial customers in battery manufacturing, eMobility, ceramics, construction, and lubricants sectors, with processing capacity of 1,500+ tonnes of battery waste per year at its FOAK Commercial Demonstration Plant at Chemical Park Gendorf.

Product overview

tozero offers a single integrated lithium-ion battery recycling offering built around its proprietary acid-free hydrometallurgical process, with multiple operational facilities scaling toward full commercial deployment. The portfolio comprises the core recycling process technology, three recovered material outputs (Recycled Lithium / Lithium Carbonate, Recycled Graphite, and Recycled Nickel-Cobalt Mix), and two production facilities: the Munich Pilot Plant (operational since July 2023 and the source of tozero's first commercial lithium delivery in April 2024) and the FOAK Commercial Demonstration Plant at Chemical Park Gendorf (operational since March 2026). Together these products form a vertically integrated value chain — from end-of-life battery feedstock through the proprietary hydrometallurgical process to high-purity, battery-grade secondary raw materials reintroduced into European supply chains across energy, ceramics, construction, and lubricant industries.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Recycled Lithium (Lithium Carbonate) High-purity recycled lithium carbonate produced from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries via tozero's proprietary acid-free hydrometallurgical process. First commercial delivery to European customers occurred in April 2024, with the company targeting production of hundreds of tonnes by 2026 and over 1,500 tonnes of recycled lithium annually by 2027.
• Recycled Graphite (Battery-grade) Industrial-scale, battery-grade recycled graphite recovered through tozero's acid-free process, preserving morphological integrity. First in Europe to complete a battery cell test using 100% recycled graphite at industrial scale in February 2025; targets over 2,000 tonnes by 2027 and beyond 10,000 tonnes by 2030.
• Recycled Nickel-Cobalt Mix High-purity nickel-cobalt mix recovered from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries at industrial scale via tozero's proprietary hydrometallurgical process, supporting cathode manufacturers and contributing to a closed European battery materials loop alongside recycled lithium and graphite.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 80% recovery rate for both lithium and graphite at industrial scale
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered critical infrastructure partner, flagship geographic expansion partner, flagship strategic partner, operational partner and pilot collaboration partner.

• InfraServ Gendorfcritical infrastructure partnerStrategic or Co-development Partner · 23 July 2025Signed lease agreement with InfraServ Gendorf (operator of GENDORF Chemical Park) to establish the commercial demonstration plant for lithium-ion battery recycling. InfraServ provides 'plug-and-play' infrastructure and tailored industrial services, allowing tozero to focus fully on technology development. GENDORF is Bavaria's largest chemical park, home to over 30 companies.
• JGC JAPAN CORPORATIONflagship geographic expansion partnerStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 June 2025MoU concluded on June 5, 2025 to establish collaboration in lithium-ion battery recycling business in Japan. Combines tozero's proprietary recycling technology with JGC JAPAN's EPC capabilities to explore setting up battery recycling operations including a hydrometallurgical recycling facility. JGC JAPAN is a subsidiary of JGC Holdings Corporation specializing in plant EPC across oil, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and environmental infrastructure.
• Huayou Recycling (Huayou Cobalt)flagship strategic partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerForged European battery recycling partnership with Huayou Recycling, the recycling arm of Huayou Cobalt — one of the world's largest lithium-ion battery cathode manufacturers. Partnership announced across multiple outlets including Fastmarkets and SMM, focused on bringing lithium-ion battery waste to zero in Europe.
• Reckelberg Environmental Technologiesoperational partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerAnnounced partnership with Reckelberg Environmental Technologies for battery recycling collaboration in Europe, as covered by Recycling Portal.
• Circular Republicpilot collaboration partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerCompleted pilot project with Circular Republic demonstrating a stable lithium recovery rate hitting the 2031 EU recovery target of 80% within an OEM project involving BMW, MAN, and Webasto. Circular Republic is a circular economy initiative within UnternehmerTUM, Europe's largest startup center.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Direct peers

• Redwood Materials: US-based lithium-ion battery recycling company founded by former Tesla CTO JB Straubel, focused on recovering critical materials including lithium, nickel, cobalt, and copper from end-of-life batteries. Directly comparable to tozero in target customers (EV OEMs, battery manufacturers) and recovered outputs, though Redwood employs a hybrid mechanical/hydrometallurgical approach and operates at substantially larger scale.
• Hydrovolt: Joint venture between Norsk Hydro and Northvolt operating Europe's first large-scale EV battery recycling plant in Porsgrunn, Norway, processing end-of-life EV batteries into black mass using mechanical separation. Comparable European geography and EV OEM customer base; partially overlaps with tozero in feedstock handling but does not perform downstream hydrometallurgy.
• Northvolt Revolt: Recycling arm of Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt, operating Europe's first large-scale lithium-ion battery recycling plant in Skellefteå with hydrometallurgical processing to recover lithium, nickel, cobalt, and manganese. Directly competes with tozero for European OEM customers and uses similar hydromet technology.
• Duesenfeld: German lithium-ion battery recycler based in Lower Saxony using a low-temperature hydrometallurgical process to recover lithium, nickel, cobalt, and manganese from end-of-life batteries. Directly comparable as a German-headquartered hydromet recycler targeting European EV and battery customers, though without tozero's graphite recovery capability.
• Li-Cycle: Canadian-listed lithium-ion battery recycler using a spoke-and-hub hydrometallurgical process to produce black mass and refine it into battery-grade materials including lithium carbonate, nickel, and cobalt. Closest direct competitor by technology architecture and product portfolio; comparable in targeting EV OEM and battery manufacturer offtake.

Broad incumbents

• Umicore: Belgian global materials technology group with a long-established battery materials and precious metals recycling business (Umicore Hoboken), recovering cobalt, nickel, and lithium from spent batteries and catalysts. Comparable as a hydrometallurgical recycler serving similar end markets, but operates at much larger scale and as part of a broader materials portfolio.
• Glencore: Swiss multinational commodity trader and miner with significant cobalt and nickel refining operations, including battery recycling at facilities such as Britannia Refined Metals. Comparable as a hydrometallurgical refiner of battery materials but operates at vastly larger scale and across a much broader mining and trading portfolio.
• Fortum Battery Recycling: Finnish energy company operating a commercial-scale lithium-ion battery recycling hydrometallurgical plant in Harjavalta, Finland, with capacity to process thousands of tonnes annually and recover black mass and refined materials. Comparable in European hydromet operations and target customer base, though embedded in a larger utility group.

Emerging players

• Cyclic Materials: Canadian startup developing hydrometallurgical processes to recover rare earth elements and other critical materials, including battery materials, from end-of-life products. Comparable as an emerging technology-driven recycler targeting the same critical materials supply gap, though with broader rare-earth focus.
• Ascend Elements: US-based battery recycling startup operating a hydrometallurgical facility to produce cathode active material (CAM) directly from black mass, including recycled lithium, nickel, and cobalt. Comparable technology architecture and customer base (battery manufacturers), but with a CAM-integration twist that distinguishes it from tozero's standalone materials sales.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@tozero.solutions
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tozero.solutions

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors9 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about tozero