TPG Rise Climate Fund is a dedicated climate investing strategy on TPG’s global impact investing platform. TPG Rise Climate Fund will use Y Analytics' approaches, such as Carbon Yield, a decision tool that leverages scientific, health, economic, and social science studies, to quantify the tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions averted per dollar invested.

TPG Rise Climate Fund

The first mass-produced Volvo car rolled off the production line in Gothenburg in 1927. Since then, they have delivered a steady stream of cars equipped with world-leading innovations. Today, they are one of the most well-known and respected car brands in the world with sales in about 100 countries. Volvo Car Group (Volvo Cars) is owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding (Geely Holding) of China. Volvo Cars formed part of the Swedish Volvo Group until 1999 when Ford Motor Company bought the company. In 2010, Geely Holding acquired Volvo Cars. They produce premium cars with the following body types: Sedans, Estates/Sportswagons, Cross Country vehicles, SUVs, and Convertibles. Their cars are characterized by intuitive, human-focused, functional Scandinavian design and good craftsmanship. Relative to the strength of the brand, Volvo Cars is a small producer with global sales reaching 421,951 cars in 2012. Their largest markets are the United States, Sweden, China, Germany, and the UK. Their corporate and brand strategy is ”Designed Around You” and puts people at the heart of everything they do. As a responsible company, they want to contribute to a more sustainable society. To ensure that they are in harmony with customers and society, they do their part by spearheading the development of sustainable mobility - from plug-in hybrids and all-electric cars to active cooperation in a partnership project on road trains. They are proud to continuously deliver world-first solutions; innovations that put people first, by saving and simplifying their lives. Volvo Cars were owned by AB Volvo until 1999 when it was acquired by the Ford Motor Company as part of its Premier Automotive Group. Geely Holding Group then acquired Volvo Cars from Ford in 2010.

Volvo Cars

Norrsken VC is a Stockholm-based impact VC fund investing in start-ups solving the world's biggest problems while building massive businesses

Norrsken VC

H&M Group Ventures is the venture capital arm of the H&M Group.

H&M Group Ventures

Giant backs purpose-driven founders building companies that matter.

Giant Ventures

IMAS Foundation is an organization that supports objectives for the good of the society through investment. IMAS Foundation focuses on asset allocation, which involves balancing the risk of our investments. IMAS Foundation is one of two arms to the Ingka Foundation, the other one is IKEA Foundation which main objective is to donate money to organizations focusing on children and women that live in extreme poverty.

IMAS Foundation

Syre

Syre is a textile impact company that focuses on hyperscale textile-to-textile recycling, beginning with polyester.

Syre is a textile recycling company founded in 2023 by Swedish investment firm Vargas and fashion and design company H&amp;M Group. It aims to decarbonize and eliminate waste in the textile industry through hyperscale textile-to-textile recycling, initially focusing on polyester. Syre's solution delivers circular polyester with equivalent quality to virgin polyester but is significantly more sustainable, reducing CO2 emissions by up to 85% compared to oil-based virgin polyester. Syre's solution is positioned as a plug-and-play alternative to virgin polyester, compatible with existing textile manufacturing processes. It can accept textile blends with as low as 60% polyester content, though its commercial focus is on higher polyester compositions around 90%.

Reinforcing recycling, rerouting refuse, and reducing wasteflows

Waste Recovery & Management Tech

Syre Raises $100M in Series A Funding

Syre is a textile recycling company founded in 2023 by Swedish investment firm Vargas and fashion and design company H&amp;M Group. It aims to decarbonize and eliminate waste in the textile industry through hyperscale textile-to-textile recycling, initially focusing on polyester. Syre's solution delivers circular polyester with equivalent quality to virgin polyester but is significantly more sustainable, reducing CO2 emissions by up to 85% compared to oil-based virgin polyester. Syre's solution is positioned as a plug-and-play alternative to virgin polyester, compatible with existing textile manufacturing processes. It can accept textile blends with as low as 60% polyester content, though its commercial focus is on higher polyester compositions around 90%.Syre's technology involves transforming post-consumer textile waste into recycled polyester fibers through a patented process developed by Premirr, a US-based company acquired by Syre. The company has established a research and development hub in North Carolina.&nbsp;Syre's first production plant in North Carolina is expected to be operational in 2024, with plans to rapidly scale up globally. Within 10 years, Syre aims to have twelve giga-scale plants running at full capacity worldwide, producing over 3 million metric tons of recycled polyester annually, capturing around 3% of the global polyester market. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/29797">May 2024</a>, the company announced that it is evaluating locations in Iberia and Vietnam for its next two major recycling facilities to support its expansion across Europe and Asia.Key customers and partnershipsIn <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/27476">March 2024</a>, H&amp;M Group signed a USD 600 million offtake agreement with Syre to supply a significant portion of H&amp;M’s long-term demand for recycled polyester over seven years. This agreement supports H&amp;M Group's ambition to have 50% recycled materials by 2030, up from its previous target of 30% by 2025.Funding and financialsIn <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/29797">May 2023</a>, the company raised USD 100 million in a venture funding round led by TPG Rise Climate to support construction of its blueprint plant in the US in 2024 and establish two giga-scale textile-to-textile recycling plants in Vietnam and Iberia.

Based in the UK, SEaB Energy provides clients with a waste to energy technology. The company sells two products called Flexibuster and Muckbuster that convert waste into energy. Flexibuster converts organic waste, while Muckbuster is designed to convert slurry waste. These are anaerobic digestion units which are containerized and can be easily bought and installed by any entity to get the required power Flexibusters are suitable for small and medium sized entities that produce between 500kg and 2,500kg of organic waste per day. As of June 2021, the company operates and manufactures its products in England, Portugal, and the USA.According to the company, one cubic meter of waste creates one household unit of electricity. The company helps customers by collecting a sample of their feedstock and estimates how much power its products can deliver by converting the particular type of feedstock. The company reports that its clients include fortune 50 companies, hospitals, non-profit organizations, property developers, and hypermarkets.Funding and financialsIn <a href="https://seabenergy.com/axon-partners-enagas-emprende-investment/">September 2022,</a> SEaB Energy raised an undisclosed investment led by Axon Partners Group to expand its solutions in Europe, Latin America and the US.

SEaB Energy

RoadRunner Recycling helps predict recycling plans for businesses (such as hotels, mills, warehouses) by using algorithms and Artificial Intelligence (AI). While helping them recycle their waste, the company also offers scheduled and one-off waste pickup services for businesses in the US.The company claims that the usage of its services has on average allowed a 16% saving in waste and recycling expenditures for customers and increased diversion from landfills by threefold.The company operates a shared-savings business model, where it generates revenue based on the level of the customer’s savings. As of October 2022, the company has diverted over 300,000 tons of material from disposal across 12,000 accounts, saving customers nearly USD 50 million on waste and recycling services.In October 2022, RoadRunner acquired Compology, the world's largest waste and recycling smart metering technology company.Key customers and partnershipsRoadRunner Recycling partnered with Avery Dennison (a label and packaging materials company) in September 2020 to launch a scalable matrix recycling program to help Avery’s <a href="https://www.packagingtechtoday.com/news-headlines/avery-dennison-launches-matrix-recycling-program-with-roadrunner-recycling/label-tape/">label</a> converters achieve their zero-waste-to-landfill goals. Some of the company’s key customers are Boxer Property, Forman Mills, and the PM Hotel Group.&nbsp;Funding and financials&nbsp;In its latest funding round in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14646">November 2022</a>, the company raised USD 20 million funding in its extended Series D round led by Fifth Wall. The funds were expected to support growth of the company's core business, expansion of enterprise offerings, and strengthening the investments in technology, thus improving sustainability in the real estate sector.

RoadRunner Recycling

<div>
 
 AMP (
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/26429">
 formerly
 </a>
 AMP Robotics) uses robots and AI to sort waste by type. Following the company&rsquo;s rebranding, it shifted focus from supplying sorting robots to building automated, facility-scale recycling solutions that incorporate AI and robotics. The company&rsquo;s AMP One-integrated sorting facility combines a number of AMP&rsquo;s modular solutions to deliver a material recovery facility (MRF) that requires no manual sorting. The facilities are able to autonomously sort multiple waste streams, including municipal solid waste, MRF residue, and mixed plastic waste into bales of materials.
 
 
 The modular solutions that make up AMP One include
 
 
 AMP Vision: 
 An AI-powered machine vision system capable of identifying over 50 categories of materials present in waste streams. The company claims it uses the world&rsquo;s largest real-world dataset for materials with over 75 billion data points.&nbsp;
 
 
 AMP Jet and Microjet: 
 An AI-based sorting system that leverages AMP Vision to identify materials and separates these two material streams simultaneously using two rows of 50 air nozzles. The system also uses AI to track the path of sorted materials and adjust jets. AMP Jet is claimed to be able to recover over 90% of target materials without human intervention. The Microjet is a compact version that can be mounted on the side of a conveyor belt.
 
 
 AMP Delta: 
 A robotic sortation system that uses AMP Vision to mechanically sort waste streams, reaching pick rates of over 80 items per mimute. Also available in Tandem (120 items per minute) and Compact (65 items per minute) variants.
 
 
 AMP Vac:
 A belt-mounted vacuum array that removes and collects thin film that can be used for pyrolysis applications. It is able to collect up to 120 picks per minute.
 
 
 AMP Insight and AMP SmartTons
 : A real-time reporting tool and system for tagging sorted bales, which can specify the exact composition and purity of the recovered material.
 
 
 The company reports that its plants are able to handle between 15 and 100+ kilotons of waste annually. AMP also has turnkey plants available, and claims it can deploy custom-built plants in as little as nine months. As of February 2024, the company has more than 230 deployments in more than 80 facilities and robotic systems in over 20 states in the US, and in Canada, Japan, and Europe.
 
 
 In May 2023, the company unveiled a complete line of 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/18116">
 AI-powered automation solutions 
 </a>
 for materials recovery facilities (MRFs), including a new compact robotic sortation solution, AI-driven improvements in targeting and robotic gripping reliability, and integrated AI-powered facility solution.
 
 
 In November 2022, the company opened its new 84,000 sq ft facility in Louisville.
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 In September 2021, AMP installed its 
 <a href="https://ampsortation.com/articles/amp-robotics-installs-its-first-recycling-robots-in-the-united-kingdom-and-ireland-with-recyco">
 first AI-guided robotics
 </a>
 systems in the UK and Ireland with Recyco, a recycling and waste management business in Northern Ireland. In July 2023, the Kent County Department of Public Works (DPW) acquired three recycling robots from AMP Robotics. In March 2022, AMP extended its partnership with Evergreen, adding six robots in Riverside, California, and planned to add three more in Albany, New York, in addition to the existing six robots in Clyde. In June 2022, AMP expanded its partnership with its reportedly largest customer waste connections.
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In November 2022, the company raised USD 91 million in corporate equity in a 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates?industryIds=54">
 Series C
 </a>
 funding round led by Congruent Ventures and Wellington Management. In May 2023, the company also raised an undisclosed amount from 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/18384">
 Microsoft&rsquo;s Climate Innovation 
 </a>
 Fund, bringing AMP&rsquo;s Series C round to a total of more than USD 99 million. The company intended to use the funds to retrofit existing recycling infrastructure with technology solutions, as well as develop new infrastructure using AI-powered automation.
 
</div>

Redwood Materials was founded by Tesla’s former CTO to focus on e-waste recycling for remanufacturing and reuse. The company uses a proprietary technology to recover elements including cobalt, lithium, nickel, manganese and graphite from old battery cells (from vehicles and consumer electronics), which can be re-used for battery production.The company announced its first energy storage system recycling project&nbsp; in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/23461">November 2023</a> — dismantling and recycling a 4MWh stationary storage substation in Kauai, Hawaii. In <a href="https://www.recyclingtoday.com/news/redwood-materials-launches-pricing-tool-for-ev-batteries/">October 2023</a>, Redwood launched an online tool with advanced tracking and management systems for automotive dismantlers to value and sell recovered EV battery packs directly back to the company.&nbsp;In September 2023, Redwood Materials acquired <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/22008">Redux Recycling</a> to accelerate Redwood's expansion into Europe.Key customers and partnershipsThe company partnered with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/5878">Ford </a>in September 2021 to build a closed-loop for battery recycling and create a domestic battery supply chain for EVs in the US. The company partnered with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11597">Volkswagen</a> Group (Audi’s parent company) in July 2022 and Lyft in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14863">November 2022</a>, to recycle batteries while expanding its presence in the US.In January 2023, the company partnered with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/15516">Flite</a>, an Australian electric hydrofoil producer, to recycle end-of-life Flitecell e-foil batteries in the US. In April 2023, the company expanded its partnership with Volkswagen to launch a consumer recycling program for rechargeable devices and lithium-ion batteries. During the same period, the company partnered with e-bike manufacturer <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/18071">Rad Power Bikes</a> to launch an electric bike battery recycling program.In October 2023, the company partnered with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/22440">Panasonic</a> to extracting high-purity nickel from end-of-life batteries and supplying it to Panasonic Energy, a subsidiary of Panasonic Holdings, by 2028. This partnership is preceded by the agreement to purchase cathode-active materials and copper foil for EV lithium-ion batteries in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14645">November 2022.</a>In November 2023, the company announced that it would supply cathode materials and copper coils for battery cells produced at Toyota’s North Carolina plant (due to go into production in 2025). This builds on Redwood’s initial partnership with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11217">Toyota</a> in June 2022, under which the company would refurbish/recycle batteries from hybrid vehicles.Funding and financialsIn August 2023, Redwood Materials raised more than USD 1 billion in a <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21369">Series D funding</a> round to expand its capacity, grow the domestic battery supply chain, and enable its customers to purchase battery materials made in the US for the first time. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16272">February 2023</a>, the Department of Energy (DOE) committed a USD 2 billion loan to Redwood Materials to construct and expand its battery recycling facility west of Reno, Nevada.

Redwood Materials

SmarterX (formerly Smarter Sorting) uses machine learning, algorithms, and a cloud-based platform to scan, identify, categorize, and sort chemical-containing products. This helps retailers and their suppliers get rid of unwanted chemicals, which Smarter Sorting will pick up to recycle instead of having them incinerated. The company also introduced a new regulatory platform in 2020 by partnering with a major retailer, to help retailers to ship and sell lithium-ion (li-ion) batteries sustainably, by providing them adequate support on regulatory requirements around li-ion battery products. The company provides its services in the USA and Canada.The company charges businesses a subscription fee per month based on the number of items they register for the sorting assessment.&nbsp;As of <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/12053">August 2022</a>, the company had secured over 1,600 consumer brands and partnerships with 24 national supermarkets and retailers, including Costco, Wegmans, and Albertsons Companies. They claim their technology can classify 2 million consumer products across 3,500+ data points and 150 million chemical compounds.Funding and financialsIn August 2022, the company raised USD 7 million in a <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/12053">funding round</a> led by Regeneration VC. This is an extension of the company’s previous funding round in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9315">March 2022</a>.

SmarterX

Startups offering platforms or software solutions incorporating technologies such as sensors, robotics, and AI to monitor and improve the waste collection process using several methods: identifying optimal waste collection time, connecting businesses and individuals with haulers, optimizing trash pickup routes, and increasing transparency in waste management throughout the production process.

Startups that separate waste by type, either by using robotics or analytics (AI, machine learning), to help streamline the recycling process.

Startups that develop recycling technologies or provide solutions such as AI-based online platforms or algorithm-based predictive solutions to primarily support businesses in their in-house recycling efforts.

Startups developing recycling technologies, including the pyrolysis process or a recycled propylene technology, to convert plastic waste into products such as pure propylene, recycled plastic, crude oil, and furniture.

Startups developing recycling technologies such as polymer recycling, flexible hydrothermal processing, etc., to recycle textile waste into products that include carbon neutral fiber or transform the waste into new products with greater value through upcycling technologies.

Startups developing recycling technologies such as lithium-ion battery recycling processes or a Magnet-to-Magnetä recycling process to convert electronic waste into products that include recycled batteries and cathode materials.

Startups developing recycling technologies to separate materials made by combining two or more materials with different properties (composite materials) and recycle them into secondary use raw materials such as aluminum, plastic, leather, and cardboard.

Startups using proprietary technologies to recycle waste (besides plastic, textile, and electronic waste) into harmless waste materials or into materials that can be used to make household goods, furniture, and construction material.

Startups using recycling technologies such as anaerobic digestion or a chemical process to convert waste into energy.

Reuses and recycles waste to keep them out of landfills

Solutions that aim to keep waste out of landfills

Provides sensor-based automated processes for waste management

Develops waste collection systems such as sensored bins, monitored waste collection, and on-demand waste collection

Waste management platforms use AI/ML for analysis and real-time updates

IoT-enable devices and platforms to manage waste and improve recycling rates

ANALYST_QUICK_TAKE

<div>
 Syre, a company specializing in textile-to-textile polyester recycling, has successfully secured USD 100 million in funding. This round of funding was led by TPG Rise Climate and saw contributions from several other entities such as the H&amp;M Group, Giant Ventures, IMAS Foundation, Norrsken VC, and Volvo Cars.
 The funding will be utilized for several key projects including the construction of a blueprint plant in the US which is set to begin in 2024. Plans have also been made to establish two large-scale textile-to-textile recycling plants in Vietnam and Iberia, with the construction for these slated to commence in 2025. Additionally, the investment will also allow Syre to fully acquire a polyester recycling technology that has been developed by a North Carolina-based company, Premirr. Despite this acquisition, Syre has announced that it will keep its research and development center in North Carolina.
 
</div> Analyst QuickTake: 
 Syre was launched in March 2024 by H&amp;M Group with backing from Vargas Holding and TPG Rise Climate to recycle post-consumer waste efficiently and at a large scale into circular polyester. At launch, Syre also had an offtake agreement valued at USD 600 million to supply H&amp;M with recycled polyester over a seven-year period.

Syre

EDGE Insights

About EDGE

Contact Us

Resources

Area of Focus

Technology Research Made Effortless