Ascend Elements

How it happened

Ascend Elements recycled lithium-ion batteries into new cathode material, a closed-loop pitch that made it one of American climate hardware's best-funded bets — a $542M September 2023 raise led by Decarbonization Partners with Temasek and the Qatar Investment Authority carried it to a roughly $1.6B valuation, on top of hundreds of millions in federal support. The model depended on both EV demand and government backing, and in 2025-26 it lost both: US EV demand softened, Chinese cathode makers drove prices down, and the administration cancelled a $316M Department of Energy grant for its half-built Kentucky plant. Calling the resulting financial challenges insurmountable, it filed for Chapter 11 in Texas in April 2026 to sell itself off in pieces, with roughly $900M of investor money gone.