R3 Lithium plans around $90M Series B for second recycling line

R3 Lithium recovers lithium carbonate from used batteries and factory scrap for battery manufacturers serving energy storage, defense and electric vehicles. Axios reports that the company plans to raise around $90 million in Series B funding. CEO Linh Austin told the publication that the proceeds would add a second production line at its Covington, Georgia, plant.

R3 first shreds batteries and manufacturing scrap into black mass at Covington. Calciner-based crystallization and water-based precipitation then recover lithium carbonate; the nickel- and cobalt-bearing residue is sold to other refiners. That gives the plant two saleable products from the same feedstock.

R3 acquired the 154,000-square-foot site from bankrupt Ascend Elements in July. The company says the facility produced lithium carbonate from entirely recycled material at commercial scale in 2025 and that the existing line has achieved 99% purity. R3 announced the initiation of operations on September 10, but also said it was still investing to bring the plant into continuous commercial operation.

The existing lithium-carbonate line has annual nameplate capacity of 2,500 metric tons, and another line of the same size would double that figure. The site also has 30,000 metric tons of annual shredding capacity. Fastmarkets estimates that two carbonate lines would require about 35,000 metric tons of black mass each year, so the expanded refinery would need outside feedstock or additional preprocessing capacity.

R3 sells lithium carbonate and the residual concentrated metal oxide rather than taking recycled material through to finished cathode products. The company says it has approximately $1 billion of signed offtake agreements, including with commodities trader Trafigura, lining up buyers while continuous production is still being established.

The planned Series B follows a $15 million Series A that R3 announced on September 10 to upgrade the existing line. That newer financing remains a plan: Axios reported the target and intended second line, not a closed round.