Welsh startup Reclinker has closed a £10m Series A round, co-led by Clean Growth Fund and AP Ventures, to scale a process that turns demolition waste into low-carbon cement. The technology, developed at the University of Cambridge, recovers cement paste from construction waste and uses the heat of electric arc furnaces at 7 Steel UK in Cardiff to make new clinker. Reclinker says the process needs no kiln, no quarried limestone, and no fossil fuel heat, and has already made its first commercial sales. The company plans to reach 120,000 tonnes per year in Cardiff and then replicate the model at other electric arc furnace sites in Europe and the US. Cement accounts for around 7% of global CO2 emissions, and Reclinker says its blended cement products can deliver an immediate 50% emissions cut at cost parity with conventional cement. The round was oversubscribed and included the Development Bank of Wales, Zero Carbon Capital, Kibo Invest, and Cambridge Enterprise.
