8 November 2024

For the first time ever, the CM Venture team put together a shark-tank style challenge featuring 8 startups (7 from China, 1 from Singapore) pitch for a brief from BAT: battery material decarbonization. Each company had exactly 15 minutes to present. The time includes Q&A with judges.

Startups GSR Energy, Like Material, Botree, Shanghai Electric, Green Li-ion, Vernon & AEM, ToDawn Tech and Silicon Plus joined the challenge, pitching to judges from 5 leading MNCs and enterprises. Judges included Ben Jenkins & Neelam Melwani, (BAT’s Sustainability Head & Circularity Head, New Categories R&D), Dr Sungbin Park (LG Energy Solution’s Technology Strategy Department Leader), Dr Christian Neumann (Heraeus’ Technology Advisor), Dr Patrick Berbon (CM Venture’s Managing Partner & Co-founder) & Kevin Wang (Apex CEO).

The top prize of 5,000 USD went to Singapore-based Green Li-ion’s innovative battery recycling solution. 

Leon Farrant, CEO & Co-founder, Green Li-Ion, said, “Thank you to the good people at CM Venture Capital for the opportunity to showcase Green Li-ion’s commercial solution for a circular economy for the EV and LiB market. We are humbled that we have won the Battery Material Decarbonization Challenge – especially given the established competitors in China and in this booming sector.”

The second prize of 3,000 USD went to ToDawn Technology, and the third prize of 1,000 USD went to Botree, both battery material recycling tech startups based in China. Winning startups may have the opportunity to have further talks with the BAT for possible collaborations in the future.

“We’re honored to won 3rd place in the international challenge. Sincere thanks to CM Venture Capital and the organizers for this incredible event. This achievement allows us to showcase Botree’s advanced recycling technology. We’re proud to contribute to global decarbonization efforts, demonstrating how our solutions can help reduce carbon footprints worldwide. Thank you again for this opportunity to join like-minded innovators working toward a sustainable, carbon-neutral future,” said Botree’s VP, Bill Wu (吴海波), second-runner in the challenge. 

First-runner up ToDawn Technology shared, “Thanks to the organizers for putting together this meaningful exchange platform. In the context of the carbon neutrality era, this challenge has brought together cutting-edge technologies, and opportunities to understand the upstream and downstream industries. As an entrepreneur, I have also gained new perspectives and inspiration, while being able to demonstrate ToDawn’s unique physical regeneration technology.”

With the success of the first-ever 15 min challenge as part of the Innovation China Conference’s agenda, we look forward to having more MNCs take part in future challenges, each with its own unique brief, rewards and companies joining in.

About grand prize winner: Green Li-ion 
A lithium-ion battery recycling technology company producing modular hardware solutions that convert spent batteries into cathode and anode material that’s ready to drop into manufacturing processes for batteries of all types. They are revolutionizing the energy storage industry with the first commercial scale modular plant solutions to fully refine and rejuvenate all forms of performance Li-ion and precious metal batteries (incl NiMh) in one step with up to 90% less carbon footprint. Find out more about them here.

About 1st runner up: ToDawn Tech
A startup a result of a spinout from MIT Labs: they rely on unique mechanical/physical methods to regenerate LFP material from waste batteries.

About 2nd runner up: Botree
They are dedicated to delivering total solutions for recycling critical battery materials. With advanced separation systems and smart equipment, Botree enables worldwide battery manufacturers, battery operators, automotive manufacturers, energy storage enterprises, and recyclers achieve short-loops in the use of battery materials. Applications include recycling of lithium batteries, hydrogen fuel cells, solid state batteries, and more. Find out more about them here.