LONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Germany's METCYCLE, a scrap metal trading platform, has raised $5 million to expand to meet growing demand for recycling raw materials including aluminium used in electric vehicles and lithium used for batteries.
Recycled or secondary metal is expected to be a key part of the energy transition, which includes electric vehicles and renewable energy such as solar and wind.
It emits less carbon dioxide than that used in the production of primary metal from ores and concentrate and expectations are for this segment of the metals markets to grow at a fast pace over the coming years.
Recycled or secondary aluminium, for example, typically uses 95% less energy than the primary metal.
The $5 million was raised from investors that include venture capital firm Project A and private equity fund Partech.
"Trade in secondary metals is global, highly fragmented, intransparent and characterised by low levels of trust," Rafael Suchan, co-founder of the company said.
Unlike global mining giants, the secondary metals sector comprises mainly small and medium enterprises that focus on sourcing and sorting scrap locally.
European Union countries raised their metal recycling targets earlier this year. Secondary metals are important due to red tape limiting mined production in the EU.
(Reporting by Julian Luk; Editing by Louise Heavens)
