Recycling today kind of sucks. People are generally confused about what can be recycled and where. As a result, only about 32% of eligible waste actually gets recycled.
It would be a lot easier if people could dump everything into one bin and let the waste management companies deal with it, but that’s proven to be too expensive with humans in the loop.
Enter robots. Myriad companies, from small startups like Glacier to large multinationals like Apple, have been working to automate recycling. Most of that work has centered on the robots themselves, placing them in existing facilities to help humans recover more waste.
More recently, Amp Robotics, an early entrant, changed its business model to focus on running entire facilities. That shift has now netted the company $91 million in fresh funding.
The decade-old company has deployed around 400 robots, and it operates three facilities with another in the works. Companies can specify how many sorting modules depending on how much trash they need to sort or which material they’re looking for. Inside, cameras watch the flow of trash, using AI to identify what can be recycled, and robotic arms pluck bits from the conveyor belt.
Amp handles operations, maintenance, and upgrades, with the contracting company handling waste sourcing, offtake of any valuable materials, and disposal of anything that can’t be recycled. It’s basically another “as a service” business model, with the company charging per ton of waste sorted.
The new funding round, a Series D, was led by Congruent Ventures with participation from Blue Earth Capital, California State Teachers Retirement System, Liberty Mutual Investments, Wellington Management, Range Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Tao Capital Partners, and XN.
The round is a little smaller than Amp’s Series C, which after additions ended up raising $104 million, per SEC filings, highlighting the challenging fundraising environment that many mid- to late-stage startups face.