London-based startup Circulor has developed a software to track and trace the materials used in EV battery production – offering full transparency in the materials’ lifecycle. The tech has already been picked up by Volvo, which originally used the system to trace cobalt for batteries in its first fully electric car.
The company closed its Series A funding round in June this year, bringing in $14m in investment, with investors including The Westley Group and BHP Ventures. The money will be used to ‘drive ongoing innovation and extend its presence in North America and Asia.’
Circulor’s system is built from cloud services, machine learning and blockchain technology, and is used to identify and verify the origins, as well as environmental and humanitarian impacts of materials sourced for the battery revolution. Commodities traced include nickel, copper and lithium, though the firm has also expanded into plastics and leather – deployed in circular economy solutions such as remanufacturing automotive parts.
This technology will not only help to improve companies’ environmental and ethical footprint, but will help more organisations to meet the upcoming EU Battery Passport regulations. These guidelines will require companies’ to meet certain environmental criteria, as well as a level of supply chain transparency.
In a press release on the latest round of funding, Douglas Johnson-Poensgen, CEO of Circulor, said: “We are on a mission to make the world’s most complex industrial supply chains more transparent, and help prevent the exploitation of people and our planet. Traceability-as-a-Service is fast becoming a requirement for the world’s leading brands and this funding will help us accelerate our impact and revenue growth.”
Big things are in store for Circulor, with a major project reportedly in Boeing’s pipeline deploying Circulor’s traceability system. Other existing investors include Volvo spinoff Polestar and Vulcan Energy – with the former harnessing Circulor’s system to try and create an entirely carbon neutral car.