Recently, the Silicon Luxembourg Startup Apéro event #41 hosted Antoine Welter, the founder of Circu Li-ion, as the guest interviewed by Charles-Louis Mathuron.
LuxRelo was represented by Stephane Compain and Sandrine Lapointe.
In this blog post, we will share some insights from the event and Antoine's entrepreneurial journey.
Antoine is originally from Luxembourg but grew up in the United States. Before starting his own startup, he worked in sales and consulting. In 2021, he founded Circu Li-ion, a company that programs robots to open batteries and recycle them as efficiently as possible. Antoine comes from a family of entrepreneurs, and he always wanted to do something that mattered.
While working in sales, Antoine gained valuable experience in overcoming fear and actively listening to clients to understand their biggest problems. He developed the ability to structure his thoughts and devise effective solutions to meet their needs. Antoine emphasizes the importance of listening in entrepreneurship, stressing the need to truly solve customer problems. He also believes that a good salesman is not afraid to lose and will pick up the phone and make a call.
Antoine's transition from an employee to an entrepreneur involved enrolling in a coding training program known as "le wagon" to gain a deeper understanding of the technology landscape
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Antoine and his co-founder Dr. Xavier Kohll explored ways to merge technology and business. They conducted extensive market research and sought to acquire as much knowledge as possible to inform their endeavors.
Having co-founders with diverse skill sets is crucial to avoid gaps in knowledge and expertise. Antoine believes this is a key reason why he and Xavier work well together.
Circu Li-ion's clients are recycling companies, battery producers, chemical and car companies. The company currently has 22 employees and plans to double in size by the end of the year. Antoine believes that hiring the right people for the future and retaining them is key to the company's success. Therefore, they dedicate time to recruitment and employee training.
He also mentioned that the Luxembourg environment has been helpful in growing his business. Lux-Innovation and the Ministry of Economy have provided support to Circu Li-ion.
Circu Li-ion is a data company that trains its machines to be efficient. Knowing where the raw materials are, mainly in batteries, will be key in the future. Antoine and his team are also discussing with battery companies how to make them easier to recycle for robots. They believe that using data is the key to showing how to recycle them efficiently.
Antoine's ultimate goal for Circu Li-ion is to upcycle everything in the future. He believes that taking risks and trying is necessary if you want to be an entrepreneur.
We wish Antoine and his team at Circu Li-ion all the best in their future endeavors!