Client
Company: BATTIA
Company type: Deeptech Startup / Science-Tech Spin-off
Sector: Advanced battery recycling, electric mobility, circular economy and critical raw materials
Location: Gipuzkoa
Project
- Communication strategy for a non-dilutive funding milestone
- Narrative storytelling and press release drafting
- Press office management and targeted outreach
- Securing and managing local, regional and national media coverage
Turning a Raw Figure into a Newsworthy Story
BATTIA is a deeptech startup founded in 2025 as a spin-off from Ceit and Tekniker, two leading research centres in the Basque Country. The company develops proprietary technology to recover lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese from electric vehicle batteries using artificial intelligence, advanced robotics and sustainable hydrometallurgy.
The company secured €7.8 million through the RENOCICLA programme, led by IDAE under the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan and funded by the European Union’s NextGenerationEU. This grant was supplemented by €350,000 from the DeepTek Foundation and support from Basque institutions. The project includes plans to build its first recycling plant in Gipuzkoa in 2029.
The communication challenge was not simply announcing a number, but designing a media strategy capable of turning €8 million in funding into a story of local, economic, technological, and industrial interest. The goal was to secure local, regional, and national coverage across generalist, economic, trade, and investment media outlets.
We needed to explain why this funding mattered to the industry, the energy transition, and the local territory, making it easily understandable for audiences and media outlets with vastly different interests.
The Core Challenge of Startup Funding Communication
The main challenge was building a narrative that worked at multiple levels simultaneously.
- Local & Regional Media: Connect the project to industrial growth, innovation, cutting-edge technology, and the expertise of Gipuzkoa and the Basque Country.
- National Media: Present the project as a strategic response to Europe’s battery recycling challenge.
- Economic, Investment & Trade Media: Demonstrate the financial solidity, technological differentiation, and real market connection of the company.
Communication Strategy and Execution
At Zinkup, we designed a communication strategy centred on tailoring a single news milestone to match the editorial criteria of each media segment, while keeping the core message consistent.
- We transformed public funding into a business milestone: Positioned the €7.8 million RENOCICLA grant as institutional backing to take proprietary technology from the research stage to production capacity.
- We built a regional narrative: Framed Gipuzkoa as the hub of technological knowledge, the site of the future recycling plant, and a potential cluster for a new industry linked to electric mobility.
- We translated innovation into clear benefits: Highlighted the recovery of critical materials, improved safety and efficiency, and a process that does not produce black mass as an intermediate product.
- We provided regulatory and market context: Connected the project with circular economy, European strategic autonomy and the urgent need to expand recycling capacity.
- We strengthened credibility: Emphasized BATTIA’s origins as a spin-off from Ceit and Tekniker, its institutional backing and letters of intent from industrial players.
- We tailored our outreach: Developed customised angles for local and regional outlets, national economic and general news, and specialised titles across investment, startups, automotive, industry, energy, and recycling.
Comprehensive Cross-Sectional Media Coverage
The secured coverage introduced BATTIA to the Basque ecosystem, projected the project onto the national stage, and reinforced its authority among investors, industrial leaders, and sector specialists.
Media outlets secured included: El Economista, Expansión, Disruptores, Merca2, Capital Riesgo, El Referente, Interempresas, Reciclaje y Gestión de Residuos, Diario Vasco, Noticias de Gipuzkoa, and SPRI.
The wide variety of publications demonstrates the ability of the narrative to spark interest across diverse sectors, including general news, economy, entrepreneurship, industry, technology, and environmental media.
Impact and Results
The strategy developed and delivered by Zinkup gave BATTIA visibility far beyond local media in Gipuzkoa, transforming the investment milestone into a powerful calling card for key audiences. Coverage went beyond simply repeating the funding figure: several outlets expanded on the industrial scope of the project, the future plant in Gipuzkoa, the company’s scientific origins, and the role of battery recycling in the circular economy, interviewing leadership to explore the topic in depth.
Geographic reach across local, regional, and national tiers.
Broad presence in general, economic, and industry press.
Positioned BATTIA as an industrial project rooted in Basque research.
Highlighted proprietary technology and its contribution to critical raw material recovery.
Reinforced company credibility with investors, institutions, clients, and industrial partners.
Key Takeaways: How to Communicate an Investment Milestone
This case demonstrates that an investment achieves far greater media traction when communicated as a solution to a meaningful challenge rather than an isolated figure. The key was uniting public funding, technology, territory, market dynamics, and regulatory context into a single story, then activating the most compelling angle for each publication through tailored headline approaches.
The result is a communication strategy that multiplies the reputational value of the milestone: funding validates the project, technology provides differentiation, regional roots create connection, and the industrial context opens conversations with national and specialist audiences.
€7.8 million
in public funding framed as a driver for industrial scaling
3 Levels
of media reach across local, regional and national tiers
360º Coverage
spanning general, business, investment and trade media
One Story
connecting innovation, circular economy, industry and the region
Álvaro Campuzano
CEO & Co-Founder of BATTIA
“Zinkup has been a key partner in communicating a strategic milestone for BATTIA. Their work has given us visibility in industrial, entrepreneurship and Basque media, helping us convey the value and potential of our project while reinforcing our positioning and credibility in the sector.”
Do you have a Milestone that Deserves Greater Reach?
At Zinkup, we transform investments, funding rounds, grants, and industrial launches into compelling stories for the media and the audiences that drive your company’s growth.