Start-up’s battery recycling solution emerges as winning idea at Hong Kong’s flagship and global Elevator Pitch Competition
- Tozero from Germany is named overall champion at HKSTP’s eighth EPiC event, garnering a cash prize as well as additional opportunities for investment and partnerships
- With over 600 entries from 47 economies, plus regional semi-finals held across the globe, this year’s edition is the biggest and most international yet
The world’s electric vehicle (EV) fleet continues to grow rapidly, with the International Energy Agency projecting that sales will hit 17 million this year. But with that comes growing concerns about the waste created by rechargeable EV batteries, as well as the strain on supply chains.
To address these increasingly pressing issues, a German start-up called Tozero has developed a recycling process for lithium-ion batteries. It applies hydrometallurgical technology to recover lithium, graphite and other valuable materials so that they can be reused.
“We find ourselves in the era of electrification, where producing so many batteries has produced an exponential growth of electrical lithium-ion battery waste,” said Sarah Fleischer, co-founder and CEO of Munich-based Tozero. “We burn it, and all of these raw materials are lost.”
This sustainable solution won Tozero the title of overall champion at Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation’s (HKSTP) eighth Elevator Pitch Competition (EPiC). The annual event gives mid- to late-stage start-ups from around the world a prominent platform for presenting their innovative, hi-tech business ideas.
Entrepreneurs from the fintech, proptech and mobility tech sectors competed for the chance to receive up to US$5 million in investment from the HKSTP Corporate Venture Fund, which was offered along with a total of US$240,000 in cash prizes plus additional opportunities for business matching, partnerships and investment.