Luxembourg-based deep-tech company R3 Robotics is solving one of the most urgent bottlenecks of the energy transition: what happens to batteries and electric vehicles once they reach the end of their life.
Part of the Battery & Energy storage market group, the company builds automated, AI-driven systems that safely disassemble these products and recover the valuable materials locked inside, turning what would otherwise be waste into a resource for the next generation of batteries and electronics.
In early 2026, the company underwent a rebrand and a €20 million funding round to match its expanding scope, having previously operated under the name Circu Li-ion since its founding in 2021.
Robots that think like a mechanic taking things apart
The company’s story began with batteries: as electric vehicles took off across Europe, so did the volume of battery packs reaching end of life. And someone needed to take them apart safely and recover what’s valuable inside.
That focus became the technical foundation. From there, the ambition grew into full electric-vehicle systems, the battery pack, the e-drive (motor and transmission), and the power electronics that manage current between them.
That expansion matters because these components have historically been dismantled by hand, a slow, hazardous process complicated by high-voltage wiring and by the fact that every manufacturer builds its vehicles differently.
R3 Robotics solves that problem with robotic arms guided by AI and computer vision, most of the hardware bought off the shelf (about 85%, per CEO Antoine Welter) and fitted with custom end effectors, the specialised “hands” that grip and pull components apart.
The software does the heavy lifting: it reads a product’s structure, works out a disassembly sequence, and directs the robots through each step.
The payoff, if it works at industrial scale, is exactly the kind of system-level circularity that European regulation is starting to demand.
The EU Battery Regulation, the Critical Raw Materials Act, and the End-of-Life Vehicles Directive are all pushing towards keeping these materials in circulation rather than letting them go to waste.
Two founders, one mission
R3 Robotics was founded by Antoine Welter and Dr. Xavier Kohll. Welter, CEO and co-founder, is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor. He sets the company’s strategic direction, drives partnerships, and leads its growth, backed by multiple graduate degrees in business.
Kohll, co-founder and now Director of Innovation & Grants, holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from ETH Zürich and spent years in hands-on product development and industrial process roles before co-founding the company. At R3 Robotics, he leads the technical vision, system architecture, and development of the automated disassembly platform.
Their pitch: with electric vehicle adoption booming, the world is about to be swimming in end-of-life batteries, and someone needs to build the infrastructure to deal with that at scale before it becomes a crisis rather than an opportunity.
When the technology outpaced the mission
Scaling a hardware-and-software company under regulatory certification is no small feat. R3 Robotics had to get its German facility near Karlsruhe fully certified under BImSchG and EfB standards before operating at industrial scale, a process completed in February 2024.
Funding a deep-tech operation like this one also meant stacking public grants with private equity rather than relying on either alone.
The bigger challenge was recognising its own ceiling. Batteries were the starting point because the economics were clear and provable, but as the underlying AI and robotics matured, the team saw the same disassembly logic could apply well beyond battery packs.
That realisation triggered the rebrand from Circu Li-ion to R3 Robotics, and a shift towards automating the teardown of full EV components.
From seed funding to a full rebrand
In 2023, the company landed an EIC Accelerator grant. Later that year, it closed an €8.5 million seed round, split between €4.5 million in equity led by BonVenture and €4 million in EIC Accelerator grants.
Along the way, it built partnerships with names like Amazon, Hyundai, JLR, and Daimler Truck, and in March 2025, it was recognised as a Young Innovative Enterprise in Luxembourg.
Then came 2026’s biggest move yet: the rename to R3 Robotics and the €20 million Series A, aimed at expanding the Karlsruhe facility, growing the engineering and AI teams, and pushing into new markets, including the US.
Why the EIC Scaling Club matters
In October 2024, the company was one of 72 new deep-tech scale-ups selected to join the EIC Scaling Club at the Scale 100 Forum in Athens. The move expanded the Club’s roster to 120 of Europe’s most promising deep-tech scale-ups. Its stated ambition: turning a fifth of them into unicorns.
The Club connects top startups with leading investors and industry experts, offering fundraising support, leadership mentoring, and corporate matchmaking. For a company mid-pivot from battery specialist to full-scope EV dismantler, that kind of network, plus proof that European investors already believe in the bigger vision, is exactly the fuel needed for the next stage of growth.
About the EIC Scaling Club
The EIC Scaling Club is a curated community where 120+ European deep tech scale-ups with the potential to build world-class businesses and solve major global challenges come together with investors, corporate innovators and other industry stakeholders to spur growth.
The top 120+ European deep tech companies will be carefully selected from a pool of high-growth scale-ups that have benefitted from EIC financial schemes, other European and national innovation programmes, and beyond.
The EIC Scaling Club is an EIC-funded initiative run in partnership by Tech Tour, Bpifrance (EuroQuity), Hello Tomorrow, Tech.eu (Webrazzi), EurA and IESE Business School.
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