Circular Materials raises €11.8 million for wastewater metals recovery
The Italian cleantech company will use SAFE financing to build a Ferrara hub and scale its SWaP technology for industrial wastewater treatment.
By Marcus Adeyemi · Startups Editor
· 3 min read
Circular Materials has secured €11.8 million in SAFE financing to expand technology that extracts critical and strategic raw materials from industrial wastewater. The Italian cleantech company said the capital will fund a new Circular Materials Hub in Ferrara and support wider commercial deployment after industrial validation.
The round was backed by CDP Venture Capital, the European Innovation Council Fund, EIT RawMaterials, 360 Capital, Corbites and Lumar S.r.l. Because the financing was structured as a Simple Agreement for Future Equity, Circular Materials did not disclose a valuation. The company also did not disclose revenue, headcount, customer names or current treatment capacity.
Founded in 2019, Circular Materials has built a proprietary process for treating wastewater streams that contain dissolved metals. Its Supercritical Water Precipitation technology, branded SWaP, is designed to recover more than 99% of dissolved metals from complex industrial wastewater while cutting the amount of hazardous sludge produced, according to the company.
The pitch is straightforward: industrial wastewater can be treated as a feedstock for secondary raw materials rather than only as a waste stream. That positioning is aimed at European industrial companies facing higher demand for critical raw materials and seeking more resilient supply chains. Circular Materials says its process could turn industrial sites into domestic sources of reusable materials for manufacturing supply chains.
CEO Marco Bersani said the company sees wastewater as an underused source of value, and that its priority is building the infrastructure needed to recover materials and support more circular industrial supply chains.
Ferrara hub is the next test
The Ferrara facility is intended to expand Circular Materials’ treatment capacity and become the basis for additional recovery hubs in European industrial regions, the company said. No timeline for the facility, capacity target or deployment schedule for future hubs was disclosed.
The new funding moves Circular Materials into the phase where execution will matter more than lab or pilot performance. The company has reported industrial validation, but broader commercial deployment will require siting, permitting, operating capability and repeatable economics across wastewater streams that can vary by industrial process.
The investor mix gives the company exposure to public and sector-focused capital rather than only generalist venture money. CDP Venture Capital, the European Innovation Council Fund and EIT RawMaterials all sit close to European industrial and strategic supply-chain priorities. The announcement does not say whether any of the investors are also commercial partners.
For the critical raw materials sector, the deal is another sign that recovery and recycling technologies are being funded as part of Europe’s supply-chain strategy. Circular Materials’ immediate task is narrower: prove that SWaP can run at commercial scale, at attractive cost, and in enough industrial settings to justify a network of hubs.
This story draws on original reporting from Tech.eu.
