Electronic waste recycling innovator DEScycle has been chosen as a finalist in global deep tech competition.
The university spin-out which is developing its processes in the North East and has plans to set up plants in the region is heading to Paris to compete in the Hello Tomorrow Global Challenge. Only 70 firms from 4,500 applications have made it to the final which celebrates some of the world's most forward thinking start-ups and aims to put them in front of investors.
DEScycle is the only º£½ÇÊÓƵ company in its category and hopes to impress judges with its eco-friendly recycling methods that can retrieve valuable metals from electronic waste such as laptops and mobile phones. Hello Tomorrow - which features big name sponsors and partners such as BCG and L'oreal - requires entrants to be based on a new technology or scientific discovery and be in an early stage of development.
Read more: North East economy 'heading in right direction', Chamber survey suggests
Read more: Radiation detection group Kromek secures four contracts worth $1.63m
Now the DEScycle team will travel to Paris in March to pitch their model in front of 400 people, as part of the Hello Tomorrow Global Summit that aims to attract 3,000 start-ups, investors and corporations. The firms exhibiting are tackling some of the planet's most pressing issues including energy transition, decarbonisation of manufacturing and sustainable food sources.
Leo Howden, DEScycle managing director, said: "We are extremely excited to have been selected out of so many exciting and innovative businesses as one of the Hello Tomorrow Global Challenge finalists. Our 70 peers that have been nominated are building the future of deep tech, and we are proud to be representing innovation in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ within our category, Industry & Machines. We look forward to seeing some of our investors in Paris where we will be presenting as part of the Hello Tomorrow Global Summit.â€
International recognition is the latest boost for DEScycle and follows £4.9m of investment secured last year. The pre-Series A round was led by º£½ÇÊÓƵ Venture Capital group TSP Ventures, and US and º£½ÇÊÓƵ venture capital funds including Deep Future, Kero Development Partners and Green Angel Syndicate. It also included sums from minerals and mining industry players Mark Cutifani, who formerly led Anglo American and has since become an advisor to DEScycle, and Stephen McIntosh, former head of innovation at Rio Tinto.
The money is being used to speed up commercialisation of the firm's technology, which uses chemistry known as Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES) to replace energy-intensive smelting. DEScycle currently has a team of 10 full-time equivalent scientists and engineers working out of CPI's Wilton laboratories.
It has plans to develop a large-scale pilot plant on Teesside before setting up an £8m Gateshead site this year, which it estimates could handle 5,000 tonnes of waste each year and generate revenues of £62.8m ($78m).
