Europe’s second chance: The rise of a new battery ecosystem

Europe’s battery ambitions took a major hit with the collapse of Northvolt, once seen as the continent’s best chance to rival Chinese competitors and build a homegrown supply chain. But since then, we’ve seen a more modular, ecosystem-driven approach with scaleups rebuilding momentum across the battery value chain, by tackling a specific bottleneck rather than trying to do everything at once. These are some of the key themes defining the space, along with companies to keep on your radar: The need to recycle batteries is quickly becoming one of the most urgent challenges in the energy transition. As electric vehicles, grid storage, and consumer electronics scale, so does the volume of lithium-ion batteries reaching end of life. Without robust recycling, this creates a growing waste stream and an escalating demand for raw materials that are already difficult to mine, expensive, carbon-intensive, and geopolitically sensitive. Cylib deeptech scale-up on a mission to revolutionise battery recycling and secure a circular future for Europe. Born out of years of research at RWTH Aachen University, cylib has developed a holistic, water-based technology to recover all elements within lithium-ion batteries. The core challenge of Europe’s energy transition is its heavy dependence on imported critical materials. cylib’s technology addresses this by transforming end-of-life batteries – from electric vehicles, power tools, and energy storage systems – back into high-quality production materials. What makes their technology a game-changer is its holistic, water-based process, which achieves over 90 per cent recovery efficiency with 80 per cent lower emissions than traditional mining. Unlike many existing solutions, cylib can handle both NMC (Nickel Manganese Cobalt) and LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) battery chemistries at an industrial scale. The company has raised over €156 million. tozero focuses on recycling lithium-ion batteries by processing used or waste batteries to extract valuable raw materials, including lithium, graphite, nickel, cobalt, and manganese. In March, the company launched an industrial-scale battery recycling plant at the Chemical Park Gendorf in Bavaria, capable of processing more than 1,500 tonnes of battery waste annually and recovering critical materials such as lithium, graphite, and nickel-cobalt mixtures. Check out our earlier interview with Sarah Fleischer, co-founder and CEO of tozero. What sets the company apart is its chemical (hydrometallurgical) recycling process, which allows it to recover a large share of these materials — often around 80 per cent or more — in a form pure enough to go straight back into industrial production. The company has raised over €17 million R3 Robotics (formerly CircuLi-ion) is focused on automating the safe, scalable dismantling of end-of-life electric vehicles and their high-voltage components. When electric cars reach their end of life, taking them apart is still mostly manual, slow, expensive, and dangerous (especially due to high-voltage battery systems). R3 Robotics' tech combines computer vision, AI, and specialised robotic tooling to automate the disassembly of lithium-ion battery packs, e-motors, power electronics, and other high-value electrified components. The system minimises human exposure to high-voltage hazards and delivers the cost structure and reliability required for industrial-scale operations. The company has raised €28.5 million. Europe’s battery maker scaleups are not only building batteries with more sustainable materials, but also focus on manufacturing locally, thus reducing Europe’s reliance on imported batteries and strengthening the region’s energy and EV supply chain. ElevenEs is the first company in Europe to develop a lithium-ion giga factory based on LFP blade-type cells. LFP (Lithium iron phosphate) is a type of chemistry within lithium-ion batteries. While it’s a mature technology in China, Europe has been focused on more traditional options such as Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC) batteries. By producing LFP (lithium iron phosphate) cells locally, ElevenEs offers a safer, lower-cost alternative that avoids scarce materials like cobalt and nickel while still meeting the needs of EVs and grid storage. Skeleton Technologies develops high-power energy storage systems, primarily supercapacitors and hybrid SuperBattery technology, designed to deliver and absorb energy almost instantly. Unlike traditional battery companies that focus on storing large amounts of energy, Skeleton is focused on power — how quickly energy can be released, captured, or stabilised. Its technology acts as a buffer within electrical systems, handling rapid spikes and drops in power that batteries alone cannot efficiently manage. The company’s systems are used across electric transport, energy grids, industrial machinery, and increasingly AI data centres. In November 2025, Skeleton opened a €220M Leipzig SuperFactory to power Europe’s AI and grid stability Check out our interview with Skeleton Technologies CEO Taavi Madiberk. The company has raised €313.3 million. Battery energy storage (BESS) is a way to store electricity in batteries so it can be used later, rather than immediately when it’s generated. Batteries are uniquely valuable because they can both store and release electricity instantly, and they are becoming a key part of grid stability. Sympower is an energy tech company that helps businesses use their electricity in a smarter way. It connects to assets like factories, batteries, or heating and cooling, and uses AI-embedded software to automatically decide when to charge or discharge them based on grid conditions. By aggregating many batteries and flexible energy systems into a “virtual power plant,” Sympower can sell this flexibility into energy markets, helping stabilise the grid while generating revenue for its customers. When you look at Sympower through a battery lens, the company’s role becomes even clearer: it turns batteries into active, revenue-generating assets for the grid, rather than passive storage. Sympower connects to industrial batteries (and increasingly grid-scale storage systems) and uses its software to control when they charge or discharge based on grid needs. The company has raised $76.8 million. Check out our earlier interview with Nikolas Samios, Managing Director, PT1, to understand how battery storage has become a rapidly evolving asset class. Battery intelligence is emerging as a critical software layer in the energy stack, turning raw battery data into predictive insights that improve performance, safety, and asset value. By analysing patterns in battery charging, discharging, and degradation, these systems enable operators to anticipate failures, optimise usage, and reduce downtime—an increasingly important capability as electric vehicles, grid storage, and industrial electrification scale. ACCURE Battery Intelligence builds AI-powered software to monitor, analyse, and optimise battery systems. Its platform operates as a data and intelligence layer. It collects the huge volumes of data generated by battery management systems (BMS)— such as voltage, temperature, and charge levels—and uses AI and physics-based models to turn that into actionable insights. This allows operators to detect faults early, improve performance, and extend battery lifetime. This also helps prevent thermal runaway (battery fires), degradation, and inefficiencies by identifying problems before they become critical and recommending corrective actions. With ACCURE, utilities, energy storage operators, and EV fleet managers can reduce risk, maximise uptime, and increase the economic value of battery assets. The company has raised $34.5 million. Companies mentioned in this article are members of the EIC Scaling Club, a curated community where 120+ European deep tech scale-ups with the potential to build world-class businesses and solve major global challenges come together with investors, corpo…