VoltR, an Angers-based company specialising in lithium battery remanufacturing, has raised €16 million in equity from the SPI 2 Fund, managed by Bpifrance on behalf of the French State as part of France 2030, and from Decathlon PULSE, Decathlon’s investment and innovation vehicle. Supplemented by €6 million in grants obtained under the Première Usine programme, the transaction brings total financing to €22 million. It is intended to accelerate the industrialisation of its model.
Analysis by the experts at Auris Finance, M&A and financial engineering advisory firm.
Founded in 2022, VoltR has developed an integrated remanufacturing model: collection of used batteries, cell diagnostics, then production of new batteries. Cells that are still usable are reassembled into new systems, extending their use before recycling. The company reports more than 20,000 batteries placed on the market.
A plant doubled in size, production multiplied by six
The financing should enable VoltR to double the floor area of its plant in Verrières-en-Anjou, in Maine-et-Loire, and to increase its production capacity sixfold within two years. The company plans to create around forty jobs. This change of scale should enable it to handle growing volumes of end-of-first-life batteries and to extend its expertise to new products and markets.
Equity and public grants
The transaction combines two types of financing. The €16 million in equity brings two new investors into the shareholder base. The €6 million in grants fall under the Première Usine programme, operated by Bpifrance as part of France 2030, which aims to accelerate the first industrialisation of young industrial companies and innovative SMEs.
“Having Bpifrance’s SPI Fund and Decathlon PULSE alongside us is particularly significant: it brings together around VoltR expertise in industrialisation and a very practical knowledge of uses and markets,” says Maxime Bleskine, Chief Executive Officer of VoltR.
Bpifrance and Decathlon PULSE, two complementary investors
For the SPI Fund, the investment completes a value chain in which it is already present, having supported both new battery production and recycling. Remanufacturing sits between these two stages. Jean-Philippe Richard, Director of the SPI Fund, places the transaction within the fund’s commitment to a sovereign battery industry.
Decathlon PULSE invests in companies that complement the Decathlon group’s strategic ambitions. Franck Vigo, its Chief Executive Officer, sees VoltR’s model as a practical response to the environmental challenge posed by batteries. The investment is intended to help strengthen the industrial capabilities, know-how and supply chains needed for a more circular industry in Europe.
The three parties share the same conviction: circularity must move beyond the experimental stage to become an industrial model that creates local jobs.
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