An Australian recycler of old computers, phones and other e-waste that took in $15 million in government equity funding has been snapped up for a fraction of the money it raised after it entered administration in March.

Scipher Technologies took in $7.5 million apiece from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Australian Business Growth Fund in 2022, but escalating losses due to overspending on growth plans and increased competition in the e-waste processing sector led to its failure.