DREV has raised €2.8m for its contamination control technology for the battery industry, helping to protect worker health and safety, improve production efficiency, and recover critical metals.
DREV, a Swedish startup that has developed a technology to help control contamination from the battery industry, has raised €2.8m in a seed round co-led by Butterfly Ventures, a Nordic seed-stage VC targeting sustainable deep tech and industrial innovation, and Almi Invest GreenTech, a Swedish green-tech investor. Other new investors included Bankens Utvecklingsstiftelse, a Swedish VC investor and Battle Born Venture, a Nevada state-backed venture fund, currently finalising its participation in the round. Existing Danish impact investor Unconventional Ventures also participated in the round.
DREV ‘s ‘Vault’ technology platform offers a suite of products to address the challenges posed by microscopic metal particles known as ‘black dust’, which are produced as a by-product of battery manufacturing, recycling, and refining processes. DREV says that if left uncontrolled, these particles not only pose a risk to worker health and safety, but also cause costly downtime and lead to the loss of valuable critical metals, which could be recovered and reused.
Arelys Sosa, CEO and co-founder of DREV, told Impact Investor that black dust includes microscopic particles of nickel, cobalt, lithium, and copper.
“It’s toxic, conductive, and combustible, posing exposure risks to workers, creating fire and explosion hazards, and contaminating sensitive production lines. When not properly removed, the dust creates slippery floor surfaces, leading to costly slip, trip, and fall incidents,” she said.
Sosa said existing solutions, such as industrial vacuums, scrubbers, and dust collectors, are not designed for battery environments.
“They often use water, expose workers, spread contamination and waste valuable materials. Vault captures the dust directly at the source, sealing it safely to prevent exposure and downtime while recovering critical metals,” she added.
The funding will enable DREV to accelerate the development of its Vault product line, expand commercial deployment, and establish Swedish manufacturing operations.
DREV’s pre-seed round closed in March 2024, led by Unconventional Ventures with support from angel investors as well as EIT Manufacturing and Norrsken Accelerator through their venture-building and accelerator programmes.
Vault technology platform
Vault’s technology platform includes Vault Mobile, a manually operated system used for safe, dry removal of hazardous metal dust from large surfaces, Vault Stationary, an integrated unit installed directly in or near production equipment for continuous particle capture at the source, and Vault Autonomous, a fully robotic unit that operates independently in restricted or high-risk zones.
Sosa said that all three systems share the same core technology, which enables the safe capture, storage and traceability of critical metals.
“Vault systems capture metallic dust particles directly from production environments and store them safely in sealed, explosion-proof canisters,” she said, adding that the collected dust is battery-grade and contains high-purity metals that can be efficiently reprocessed.
“Once full, the sealed canisters are sent to certified recycling and refining partners, who verify, separate, and reintegrate the recovered metals back into the battery supply chain,” she explained.
Vault says its technologies have been successfully tested at a gigafactory, whose name could not be disclosed, and have demonstrated measurable improvements in air quality, reduced surface slipperiness, and recovered resources.
European and North American expansion
The company plans to establish manufacturing operations in Gothenburg, a city on the west coast of Sweden, for in-house production and deploy its technology in gigafactories and recycling facilities across Europe and North America.
“We are establishing an assembly site in Gothenburg to begin in-house production of our Vault systems. Bringing this capability in-house gives us control over quality, speed, and integration as we move from pilot to commercial-scale deployment. It also allows us to develop and refine manufacturing processes that can be replicated in future sites close to our customers,” said Sosa, who explained that DREV already works with manufacturers and recyclers on both continents, including Verkor, a French battery manufacturer, and EcoReset, an e-waste recycler in Greece.
The company will also expand its existing commercial operations in Nevada.
“This funding will allow us to strengthen local engineering and support, broaden customer outreach, and roll out additional units in the U.S.,” said Sosa, referring to the Vault Mobile systems.
