Circular Materials has secured €11.8 million in financing from a group of institutional investors to accelerate the industrial deployment of its patented technology for recovering critical and strategic raw materials from industrial wastewater.
The funding round includes CDP Venture Capital, the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund, EIT RawMaterials, 360 Capital, Corbites, and Lumar S.r.l., with the support of independent law firm BonelliErede, reinforcing our mission to transform industrial wastewater into a valuable source of secondary raw materials and contribute to the development of more resilient and circular supply chains.
Founded in 2019 in Padua, Italy, Circular Materials has developed Supercritical Water Precipitation (SWaP™), a patented technology designed to recover strategic metals from complex industrial liquid waste streams. The process enables the recovery of more than 99% of dissolved metals, while significantly reducing the generation of hazardous sludge compared with conventional treatment methods.
Industrial wastewater generated by sectors such as electroplating, battery recycling, and chemical manufacturing often contains significant quantities of valuable and strategic metals. While conventional treatment solutions focus primarily on removing contaminants, our approach combines wastewater treatment with resource recovery and valorisation, enabling recovered materials to be reintroduced into industrial supply chains.
Our first industrial facility in Padua has achieved End-of-Waste status under the European Waste Framework Directive, allowing recovered materials to re-enter the market as secondary raw materials.
In March 2025, Circular Materials was also selected by the European Commission as a Strategic Project under the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), highlighting the key role of resource recovery technologies in strengthening Europe’s access to critical raw materials.
The new funding will support the company’s next phase of growth by strengthening operational capabilities, further scaling the SWaP™ technology, and developing the next Circular Materials Hub in Ferrara, increasing annual treatment capacity from 3,000 to 20,000 tonnes.
Europe faces a dual challenge: securing access to critical raw materials while reducing the environmental impact of industrial processes. Industrial wastewater is not simply waste, but a valuable resource that remains largely untapped. Our focus is on developing the infrastructure needed to recover strategic materials, strengthen industrial competitiveness, and contribute to increasingly circular supply chains"
This milestone marks another important step towards our vision of creating a circular supply chain where critical metals are recovered, valorised, and reintroduced into industrial processes, reducing environmental impact while strengthening Europe’s resource resilience.
