'Easier to get $200m than $2m': Recycling startup Sircel on its funding journey
Shunned by banks and major funds, Sircel managed to secure $5 million in 'patient capital' earlier this year. It has big ambitions for its chemical based technology that aims to keep e-waste out of landfill.
It’s simple enough to crush a used electronic device to extract some of its metallic components. But recycling startup Sircel is one of the few players on the scene in Australia that uses chemicals to maximise the amount of material that can be extracted and recycled from e-waste - and minimise the amount of material that ends up in landfill.
Sircel, which raised $5 million from Kilara Capital in July, has faced its fair share of challenges on its journey. In the latest instalment of our In the Arena series, CEO Anthony Karam tells Capital Brief the company was shunned by banks and big institutions, who often proclaim their support for environmental initiatives and the circular economy. "We've had no institutional or financial support from the banks or major funds," he says.
"So, despite the policy edict around circular economy and the promotion of manufacturing in Australia, we could not get one major financial institution to support us, notwithstanding that each of them consults to peak industry bodies and policy makers."
Nevertheless the company has developed a patented chemical recycling process and has plans to branch out from smartphones and laptops to solar panel recycling.
