Vancouver, BC and Delft, Netherlands , Oct. 13, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Chrysalix Venture Capital, a global venture capital fund with a long history commercializing step-change innovation for resource intensive industries, announces an investment in Sortera Alloys, developers of an intelligent sorting system for the upcycling of non-ferrous scrap metal, including Aluminum, Copper, Zinc and Brass. The system enables accurate, high throughput sorting by metal type and alloy composition through a combination of sensor fusion (XRF, Optical), AI/ML image processing and an advanced scrap feeder design.
“Chrysalix is making the circularity of metals a major theme of our new fund. Primary aluminum production accounts for 1% of global GHGs and to achieve the forecasted global demand and climate change targets, the industry must deliver significant decarbonization,” said Alfred Lam, Partner at Chrysalix Venture Capital. “Sortera’s sorting systems enable the recyclability of aluminum for high-value end products thereby saving up to 95% of the energy & GHGs as compared to primary production.”
Nalin Kumar, CEO of Sortera commented, “After the successful demonstration of our patented high throughput AI sorting technology under the DOE ARPA-E METALS project, there has been a lot of interest from the investment community to implement this technology at commercial scale. We chose to work with Chrysalix because of their track record for long term commitment to global sustainability efforts. In addition to the infusion of funding from Chrysalix to develop and demonstrate the first industrial scale metal recycling facility, their international partners will enable us to expand the impact of our technology at a global scale.”
Sortera is a spin-out from the ARPA-E METALS Program and is led by a team of seasoned innovators in the fields of advanced materials, electronic instrumentation and equipment development. “ARPA-E’s METALS program challenges teams to find cost-effective and energy-efficient manufacturing techniques to process and recycle metals. We’re excited to see how the METALS team from Sortera will continue to develop their innovative technology with this investment, by working to increase the quality of recycled metals to make them more cost-competitive for a range of manufacturing purposes.” Said METALS Program Director David Tew.
During this R&D program, Sortera partnered with OmniSource, one of North America’s largest processors and distributors of automotive scrap and secondary metals, and plans to deploy a fully integrated 100 million lbs/year demonstration system at a facility in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Furthermore, Eriez Magnetics, based in Erie, PA will build equipment for facilities to provide low cast metal alloys as feedstocks to local industries all over the world.
The Chrysalix RoboValley Fund invests in intelligent systems enabled by AI, IoT and sensor technologies to achieve significant improvements in productivity and critical business processes. Investors in the fund include Fortune 500 companies, leading corporates, financial institutions, family offices and universities, and a notable cluster of metals producers, such as South32, Severstal and Mitsubishi Corporation. For more information about Chrysalix, please visit www.chrysalix.com and for more information about Sortera, please visit www.sortera-alloys.com.
About Chrysalix Venture Capital
Chrysalix is a technology focused venture capital firm that builds, mentors and connects high growth companies. Founded in Vancouver, Canada in 2001, and with offices in Delft, Netherlands, Chrysalix has built its reputation on bringing disruptive innovation to the world’s largest industries by focusing on where technology meets physical science. The firm’s investments include breakthrough technologies like smart mining, 3D printing of steel, fast charging electric vehicle infrastructure, emissions-free solar steam, battery intelligence, C02 capture, wastewater management, and fusion energy. Chrysalix has one of the strongest investment teams in the industry with deep energy, technology and entrepreneurial expertise, and is backed by more than 20 international blue chip industrial and financial investors. Chrysalix latest fund, the Chrysalix RoboValley Fund, is the firm’s second fund under management focused on industrial innovation. For more information visit: www.chrysalix.com or contact Allison Johnson at ajohnson@chrysalix.com.
About Sortera Alloys
Sortera Alloys brings state-of-the-art artificial intelligence and machine learning data analytics to the industrial scrap metal recycling industry. This disruptive technology drives new paradigms by generating new recycling products through advanced sortation methods. Creating novel recycled metal fractions from existing scrap recycling streams enables the domestic production of metals for manufacturing, boosting the strength of the circular economy. Based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Sortera is a spin out from the ARPA-E METALS Program and is led by a team of seasoned innovators in the fields of advanced materials, electronic instrumentation and equipment development. For more information visit: www.sortera-alloys.com or contact Manuel Garcia at mgarcia@sorteraalloys.com.