Decathlon’s investment and innovation arm Decathlon Pulse has backed French lithium battery remanufacturer VoltR as part of a €22 million funding round aimed at scaling second-life battery production in Europe.
The investment from Decathlon Pulse forms part of a €16 million equity raise alongside the SPI 2 Fund, managed by Bpifrance on behalf of the French government through its France 2030 initiative. VoltR has also secured a further €6 million in grants through the Première Usine programme.
The funding will support VoltR’s move from proving its battery remanufacturing model to deploying it at industrial scale, with the company planning to double the size of its factory in Verrières-en-Anjou, France, and increase production capacity sixfold over the next two years.
Decathlon Pulse, which invests in businesses that can support Decathlon’s strategic ambitions and create new growth opportunities, has identified circular economy solutions as an area of focus. Its investment in VoltR will support the development of a model designed to extend the useful life of lithium battery cells.
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VoltR recovers cells from batteries that have reached the end of their first lifecycle and assesses their remaining performance before repurposing them in new batteries. The company says this can reduce reliance on new cells while keeping the resources and energy already invested in battery production in use for longer.
The company has placed more than 20,000 batteries on the market to date and now aims to demonstrate that its approach can operate at significantly greater scale.
Maxime Bleskine, CEO of VoltR, said the funding would enable the company to move beyond its proof of concept.
“Within two years, we aim to increase our production capacity sixfold and double our workforce, creating about 40 jobs,” he added.
The expansion will include investment in manufacturing capacity, production automation, diagnostic and cell repurposing technologies, as well as the construction of an ICPE-certified storage facility.
VoltR currently employs around 40 people and produces batteries for applications including power tools, micromobility, home automation, smart cities and mobile storage.
For Decathlon Pulse, the investment also reflects a wider ambition to support circular business models capable of strengthening European industrial capabilities and supply chains.
Franck Vigo, CEO of Decathlon Pulse, said the company shared VoltR’s conviction that circularity should become a central part of future industrial models.
Bpifrance’s SPI Fund is also positioning the investment as part of efforts to build a more self-sufficient European battery industry. Its backing follows investments across other parts of the battery value chain, with second-life applications providing an additional stage between initial use and recycling.
VoltR said its longer-term ambition is to establish a European circular battery supply chain spanning collection, storage, diagnosis, remanufacturing, production and – when cells can no longer be reused – recycling.
[image credit: Decathlon]
