High-tech aluminium packaging firm Sortera Alloys sources $10 million in funding from Assembly Ventures

Sortera Alloys, a Fort Wayne, Indiana-based firm that produces aluminium packaging from shredded automobiles using proprietary sorting technology and artificial intelligence (AI), acquired $10 million in fundraising led by Assembly Ventures with additional capital from Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Novelis. Previously, in 2021 Sortera received a $10 million investment from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Kirkland, Washington.

The fundraising round comes after a substantial agreement between Sortera and Novelis, under which Novelis will manufacture high-quality recycled aluminium sheets with a high recycled content for the automotive sector using high-quality recycled alloy obtained from automotive trash.

“We are thrilled to have this important investment from Assembly, together with additional funds from Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Novelis. The funding will be used to help scale our operations, grow the team and provide high-quality metal recycling from automobiles,” said Michael Siemer, CEO, Sortera Alloys.

Sortera claims that it can sort existing streams of mixed-alloy aluminium scrap into different alloys using AI-powered technologies. The most valuable uses for the upgraded metals may then be found there, including extrusions of building, construction, and aerospace materials, as well as cast and flat-rolled items for the automobile industry. Because recycled aluminium uses around 95 per cent less energy to create than aluminium made from virgin raw materials, the business claims that its low-cost, scalable production process helps customers meet their sustainability and circular production goals.

“Sortera Alloys is a technology driven start-up that could only be created in the industrial heartland. For decades automotive and manufacturing companies the world over have been working to implement truly circular supply chains. Sortera is poised to power efficiencies in industrial and manufacturing supply chains, and create true circularity of manufacturing inputs, across the Western world,” said Chris Thomas, Co-Founder and Partner at Assembly Ventures.

Sortera has plans to expand until the end of 2022 from a 10-acre production plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Using a patented method, the business salvages materials that were previously intended for landfills or to be recycled into low-quality composite goods. The $10 billion or more U.S. market for aluminium alloy feedstock receives the resultant high-quality recycled feedstock.

“The partnership with Sortera will allow Novelis to further increase the recycled content in our products, in particular, our automotive materials. This will enable us to meet our own ambitious goals of reducing our carbon footprint, as well as help our customers achieve their own sustainability goals,” said Derek Prichett, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development at Novelis.