MMC Ventures is an investment firm that invests in technology companies at Seed and Series A. MMC commits to a deep understanding of each company’s underlying technology and business model to help make better decisions and be more effective partners. Transformative technology companies MMC has backed to date include Gousto, Interactive Investor, Copper, Signal AI, Synthesia, Peak and more.

MMC Ventures

Playfair is a generalist VC fund with a contrarian approach to pre-seed technology investing. Based in London, Playfair invests across the UK and Europe with an intentionally high conviction, low volume approach: making 6-8 investments a year and preserving time, capital and resource to help companies post-investment. Playfair has backed 70+ companies across two funds including Thought Machine, Andela, Mapillary, Recycleye and Orca AI.

Playfair Capital

Atypical Ventures is a venture capital firm based in New York. It offers funding services to business entrepreneurs, emerging, and start-up companies.

Atypical Ventures

Creator Fund invests in founders building companies on the frontier of what's possible. We are deep technology experts and believe before others understand. We think the next generation of technology European unicorns will be built out of university innovation and have teams across 24 campuses to back pioneering scientific founders first.

Creator Fund

Eolos brings engineering, product and project management, and finance expertise in the rail and waste management sectors. It offers an inspiring framework and many opportunities for companies to re-think their business models and operations while remaining profitable and contributing to a sustainable world. Together with its global network of experts, partners, and dedicated teams,  eolos acts as an architect of integrated solutions, organized in three main fields of activity: consulting, investment and mentorship, research, and projects.

eolos

Promus Ventures invests in early-stage deep-tech software and hardware companies run by visionary and tenacious founding teams.

Promus Ventures

Social Tech Trust is a UK's leading dedicated investor of socially motivated tech. They challenge their selves and others to think differently about the relationship between tech and society. Their purpose is to transform lives with tech - The internet has revolutionised their world. They exist to ensure that the ongoing tech revolution delivers positive and equitable social impact: that when their lives are transformed by tech, they are transformed for the better. Their vision is for a world where social transformation is the driving force behind tech - Tech can open up opportunities previously out of reach, creating inspirational change. Their experience shows that when social transformation is the driving force behind tech, it has the greatest potential to improve lives. This is why they want a world where people’s needs inform and shape tech from the outset, to deliver the best return for everyone. They identify where tech has the greatest potential to transform lives, then back people and organisations to demonstrate what’s possible. Building on this knowledge, they seek out and join forces with others to create a supportive environment for those striving to realise the full promise of socially motivated tech. Their core purpose is at the heart of what they do – they transform lives with tech. Whether they are leading the conversation about transformative tech, enabling socially motivated tech ventures to grow, or directly investing in change, they work hard to achieve their vision – and deliver with pride.

Social Tech Trust

DCVC backs entrepreneurs using Deep Tech to solve problems and multiply the benefits of capitalism for everyone while reducing its cost. Deep Tech is a potent approach to this challenge that enables more for less - now and for this century. The transformative companies in their portfolio combine the latest advances in science and technology with unique computing and algorithmic advantage, reducing CAPEX and OPEX.

DCVC

Seaya is a leading European Venture Capital platform that invests in exceptional entrepreneurs who are building global technology companies. Seaya raised its first funding in 2013 and currently manages over €600 million across five early-stage venture funds. Seaya accelerates the growth of startups by leveraging the founder’s strategic vision, providing them with Seaya’s global platform, its extensive network of founders, investors and multinational corporations, as well as all its experience in the global expansion of companies such as Glovo, Cabify, Wallbox (NYSE:WBX), Spotahome, Clarity AI, Clicars, Alma and RatedPower. Learn more at seaya.vc.

Seaya

Recycleye

Recycleye is a developer of digital tools designed to detect and provide analytics on waste management. The company's tools specialize in machine learning tools to enable smarter characterization, ubiquitous tracking, and automated sorting of waste, enabling users to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy. Recycleye was established on September 23, 2019 in London, England by Victor Dewulf.

Recycleye is a UK-based technology company that brings advanced machine learning, computer vision, and robotics to the waste management industry. The robot detects waste using proprietary AI models and can choose from several material classes such as plastics, aluminum, paper, and cardboard.

Reinforcing recycling, rerouting refuse, and reducing wasteflows

Waste Recovery & Management Tech

Urbaser and Recycleye announce first AI waste sorting innovation investment in Spain | WMW

TotalEnergies

To demonstrate a new food-grade polypropylene (PP) mechanical recycling process based on AI and computer vision.

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

MSS Optical Sorters

To combine Recycleye's AI technology with MSS's optical sorting solution, creating a new family of offerings such as MSS Vivid (Visually Verified Identification) AI, which is unique among current AI detection and extraction offerings as it combines powerful Recycleye AI vision systems with robust MSS air ejection system capabilities to sort material at the highest sort volumes

Recycleye is a UK-based technology company that brings advanced machine learning, computer vision, and robotics to the waste management industry. The robot detects waste using proprietary AI models and can choose from several material classes such as plastics, aluminum, paper, and cardboard.Two of the company’s products are Recycleye Vision, which scans and identifies co-mingled waste materials in an MRF, and Recycleye Robotics, which performs the physical tasks of picking and placing waste materials in an MRF, thereby automating manual operations. Recycleye Robots can deliver up to 33,000 picks per 10-hour shift and operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Objects are scanned and identified at 60 frames per second, which the company claims is twice as fast as the industry standard.As of March 2024, Recycleye has been installed in facilities in England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Australia, the US, and France, and multiple robot orders have been confirmed in Italy and Belgium.&nbsp;Key customers and partnerships• In April 2023, Recycleye partnered with Il Solco, a social cooperative in Italy, to provide two AI-powered waste-picking robots that can sort dry mixed recyclable waste.&nbsp;• During the same period, the company partnered with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/18018">MSS </a>, a leading US optical sorting equipment manufacturer, to incorporate Recycleye’s AI technology with MSS’s optical sorting solution, introduced as MSS Vivid (Visually Verified Identification) AI.&nbsp;• In August 2023, the company expanded its partnership with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21183">Bryson Recycling</a>, a UK-based leading social enterprise provider of recycling services, selling four Recycleye Robotics solutions for Bryson’s material recovery facility in Belfast.&nbsp;• In November 2023, the company partnered with plastic packaging recycling company Valorplast and TotalEnergies to develop <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24285">Project OMNI,</a> a sorting solution to identify food-quality polypropylene from household post-consumer waste.&nbsp;• In March 2024, Recycleye partnered with Scottish resource management services company <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/27759">Cireco Scotland</a> to automate the Dunfermline Material Recycling Facility's residual line with Recycleye's AI-powered waste-sorting robots.Funding and financialsRecycleye raised USD 17 million in Series A funding in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16125">February 2023</a> led by DCVC to reinvent recycling.

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 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.

Solutions that aim to keep waste out of landfills

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

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

Reuses and recycles waste to keep them out of landfills

Provides sensor-based automated processes for waste management

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

ANALYST_QUICK_TAKE

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

<div>
 Recycleye, a London-based waste and recycling tech company, has announced its collaboration with Cireco Scotland, a Scottish resource management services company. The partnership aims to automate the Dunfermline Material Recycling Facility's residual line with Recycleye's AI-powered waste-sorting robots.
 In September 2022, Cireco made an investment in three of Recycleye's robots to replace three manual workers. Two robots were designated to pick rolling PET upstream, and the third to pick aluminum cans and PET bottles. Since the installation of these robots, the recycling recovery rates have considerably improved. These robots have also shown adaptability to changes in composition, picking approximately 30,000 items per shift.
</div> Analyst QuickTake: 
 While details about the partnership were just revealed, the company also partnered with Scottish waste management company <a href="https: 
//recycleye.com/levenseat-ai-powered-robotics-innovation-scotland/"> Levenseat </a> around the same time in 2022. The successful outcome of the Cireco partnership will strengthen the use case for Recycleye’s solution, along with the success of <a href="https: 
//sp-edge.com/updates/24285"> Project OMNI </a> , which equips the system with the ability to identify food-quality polypropylene from household post-consumer waste.

Recycleye

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