This profitable firm’s $1b bet on recycling relies on Indonesia, EV batteries

Nitin Gupta, co-founder of India-based Attero, believes that lithium-ion batteries are “the best” in battery tech today and goes on to list several reasons as to why. He talks about it so passionately that it seems he owns a battery factory. But that’s not the case.

Attero is in the business of recycling lithium-ion batteries, and it’s a vertical the company ventured into only three years ago.

Up until 2019, Attero focused on processing electronic waste, extracting raw materials and other components, and reselling them to manufacturers in a circular economy model.

Attero co-founder Nitin Gupta / Photo credit: Attero

Though most of its revenue currently comes from e-waste processing, Attero has become more bullish on its battery recycling vertical.

For good reason, too – governments worldwide have been advocating the transition to electric vehicles through various initiatives. With this adoption spike, waste from dead, hazardous lithium-ion batteries rises simultaneously.

Attero has been profitable for several years now. Its revenue grew 100% between 2021 and 2022, and it boasts partners such as LG, Hyundai, Volkswagen, and MG Motors.

Gupta says that Attero has double the revenue and market share of its next-best competitors, though he did not give specifics when asked about these companies. He adds that the firm, which he started with his brother Rohan in 2008, also has the highest profitability among waste recycling companies in the Indian market, all while remaining sustainable.

So how did the Gupta brothers manage to build an empire in a relatively nascent industry?

Extracting profits

Attero has pledged US$1 billion over the next few years to set up global recycling hubs. The company announced last year that it would open another India-based recycling facility, as well as new sites in Poland and Ohio.

The firm is also setting up a waste-processing facility in Indonesia, which is on track to become operational in the first quarter of 2024.

Gupta attributes the company’s decision to set up a unit in Indonesia to the country’s many EV factories as well as the large number of original equipment manufacturers in Southeast Asia, which could serve as a good client base for Attero.

See also: Indonesia courts Tesla but faces EV roadblocks

The co-founder says that by 2027, Attero’s plants will be able to recycle a combined total of over 300,000 metric tons of batteries per year, allowing the company to meet 15% of the global demand for cobalt, lithium, nickel, and graphite.

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