e-waste recycler Sircel pockets $5 million raise amidst acquisitive mood

The country’s largest e-waste processor, Sircel, has banked $5 million from impact investor Kilara Capital to tackle solar panel recycling amid national ambitions.

The Sydney startup, founded in 2018, grew rapidly in May when it acquired venture-backed Victorian recycler Scipher Technologies, including its solar panel recycling plans, for $5 million, after it collapsed into administration in March.

It was a bargain. Two years earlier, Scipher raised $15 million in a Series B from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Australian Business Growth Fund, and administrators McGrath Nicol reported that following the sale, creditors were still owed more than $20 million, leaving shareholders with no return.

The acquisition doubled Sircel’s size, adding 40 staff. The startup now operates across five sites in NSW, Queensland and Victoria, and has more than 50 corporate, council and e-waste partners. Sircel claims to be the only company capable of diverting up to 100% of end-of-life electronics – from consumer items to civic infrastructure – away from landfill, also extracting the source materials for reuse.

It’s estimated that only a third of e-waste is currently recovered, with more than half a million tonnes of it ending up in landfill in 2019.

e-waste sorting at Sircel

Sircel previously raised $16.4 million from its existing investors in 2023, plus a $5 million convertible note from an anonymous strategic investor.

Founder Anthony Karam said the Kilara investment would help to fast-track its new stage 1 solar panel recycling capabilities in Parkes, central NSW.

The project was initiated by Scipher before its collapse, with grant funding from the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA)

“We are excited to be delivering this project supported by the NSW EPA as part of it’s Circular Solar Program,” Karam said.

“This investment will support the acquisition and installation of Australia’s most advanced solar panel processing facility which will operate within the Parkes Recycling Special Activation Precinct, broadening Sircel’s recycling capabilities within what is becoming one of the largest e-waste streams.”

The Sircel CEO said tackling Australia’s e-waste problem properly “is a capital-intensive process that has required years of R&D and investment in highly-complex equipment and machinery” to succeed.

“We’re thankful to have investment partners like Kilara Capital, joining our other cornerstone investors expanding on those that share our vision, recognise the scale of the e-waste challenge and want to invest in the long-term benefits to business, people and planet we can deliver,” Karam said.

Kilara Capital founder Ben Krasnostein said that Kilara’s investment was a unique opportunity to achieve multiple climate positive outcomes and the firm’s portfolio manager Irina McCreadie will join the Sircel board.

“Sircel really ticks a lot of the boxes that the Kilara Growth Fund looks for: it’s a company with a proven business model, an ever-growing customer base and it has the potential to achieve significant climate positive and commercial outcomes,” Krasnostein said.

“Sircel’s impressive leadership team have remained focussed on solving the rapidly growing e-waste problem in its entirety, rather than taking shortcuts, which has led to a truly innovative business with the potential to change the way we think about electronic waste.

“We’re particularly buoyed by the opportunities to salvage precious metals from e-waste to power the future of renewable energy, reducing reliance on mining operations.”