Aqua Metals closes $13M capital raise with institutional investor

Battery recycler Aqua Metals Inc., based in Reno, Nevada, has closed a $13 million registered direct offering with an institutional investor.  

Aqua Metals says the transaction was executed as a shelf takedown and gross proceeds of the $13 million will strengthen Aqua Metals’ balance sheet and provide growth capital to advance the company’s commercialization and expansion initiatives.  

The offering enhances Aqua Metals’ financial flexibility and access to strategic growth funding as it transitions focus from pilot operations to commercial deployment. The Benchmark Co., a financial services franchise, served as the placement agent and financial advisor for the transaction. 

Aqua Metals says it’s looking into two potential sites for its first commercial AquaRefining Campus (ARC) facility. Each prospective site offers co-location synergies for feedstock sourcing and product offtake. 

Proceeds from the capital raise will be used to advance site design and engineering plans, the company says, as well as to support permitting and preconstruction activities following the completion of diligence and related agreements. 

Once operational, the first ARC facility is expected to show the scalability of Aqua Metals’ electro-hydrometallurgy process, providing what the company believes would be the first domestic, sustainable alternative to conventional smelting and chemical refining of black mass. 

The company says its technology aligns with expanding U.S.-based refining and recycling capacity, following reports of the U.S. Department of Defense’s plan to establish an up to $1 billion critical minerals stockpile, by providing a clean, scalable solution for recovering key battery metals—including lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese—from both manufacturing scrap and end-of-life batteries. 

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“With a fortified balance sheet and expanding partnerships across the battery supply chain, we are now positioned to take the next major step toward commercialization,” says Aqua Metals President and CEO Steve Cotton. “The work doesn’t just advance sustainable recycling, it supports America’s strategic goal of building a secure, domestic supply of critical minerals essential for the energy transition and stored energy applications.” 

The company says it will share additional updates in the coming weeks as it advances toward final site selection and commercial readiness and will provide a detailed review of its strategic and financial progress during its upcoming third-quarter results conference call.