Berlin-based start-up betteries has secured €2.1 million (£1.8m) in the latest seed funding round to upcycle electric vehicle (EV) batteries to accelerate the transition to renewables.

The funding round, which was led by impact funds Factor(e) Ventures and Beyond Black, will support the launch of its first two products in 2021 and kick-start the development of the betterStore, in addition to refining its business model.

The company’s business model embraces circular economy principles by ensuring recycling at the end of the second life and significantly lowers costs for customers through the battery-as-a-service offering.

Its 48V mobile and modular betterPacks can be stacked to provide 3kWh to 12kWh of energy and 2kW to 5kW of power, making them an eco-friendly source of power for DC appliances or small vehicles, such as e-boats and e-rickshaws.

Combined with an inverter, they can become a replacement for small-scale gas and diesel generators.

Another product is a larger containerised storage unit, which will provide 15kWh to 150kWh of energy storage for solar, wind or hydro-powered “mini-grids” to bring clean power to remote locations all over the world.

Dr Rainer Hönig, CEO and Founder of betteries said: “This seed round is far from transactional. The partnership and support from our lead investors, Factor(e) Ventures and Beyond Black, is crucial to us because of their in-depth market knowledge, customer access in frontier markets and developed economies as well as impact investment networks. This is really about the collaboration and partnership to get us to scale industrially as fast as possible.

“We are delighted to jointly move forward with our mission to upcycle batteries in order to avert climate change. Together with such a strong group of investors, we can make it happen.”