“Where there’s muck, there’s brass”. So the saying goes. But in the case of University of Canterbury technology startup Zincovery it was more a case of, wherever there’s horrid industrial waste there’s zinc. So when chemistry student Jonathan Ring and his Masters supervisor Dr Aaron Marshall discovered just how much of that waste was going down the drain and leaching into the environment, they decided to do something about it.
With environmental stewardship becoming an increasingly hot topic and local manufacturers queuing up seeking help, the chemistry whizzes dreamed up a prototype to test drive processing collected waste. Supported by KiwiNet and with business advisory from ThincLab at the University of Canterbury Business School, the pair put together a plan to take the technology global. Along with financial support from the university, the team also scored a $1 million seed round from both local angels and offshore investors. Meanwhile Jonathan Ring continued to work on developing the business during the summer programme for entrepreneurs at the University of Canterbury Centre for Entrepreneurship, with the support of local mentors.
It’s all in the name. Zincovery began by literally recovering heavy metals such as zinc from toxic acid waste. The waste is a by-product of industrial galvanising processes used for applying protective zinc coatings to metallic building materials. By applying the research in a clever way, high value zinc is separated out and the acid recycled for further use by the manufacturers. Most importantly, the process requires substantially less energy (and lower carbon emissions) than previous methods. A huge win for the environment.
Zincovery continued its winning ways by outpacing 140 other entrants in the 2020 C-Prize competition. The event judges saw the value immediately and were so impressed that Zincovery walked away with winnings of $100,000 in 2020 and a $1million pre-seed fund raise shortly afterwards. But the company had to make a major pivot during the Covid years when the original target market did not pan out. However this led to the realisation of a much larger global market dealing with zinc coated steel recycling. A further $3million in capital was secured during 2022 followed by a reported $9.1M “pre-series A” being completed in 2024.
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Photo credit: Jonathan Ring. Updated version of an article first published by University of Canterbury Centre for Entrepreneurship
