Amp Robotics raises $91 million to build more robot-filled waste sorting facilities

Today, recycling kinda sucks. People generally don’t know what can be recycled and where. As a result, only about 32% eligible waste is actually recycled.

It would be much easier if people could throw everything into one bin and let waste management companies deal with it, but that proved too costly with the humans involved.

Enter the robots. A myriad of companies, from small startups like Glacier to large multinationals like Applehave worked to automate recycling. Most of this work has focused on the robots themselves, placing them in existing facilities to help humans collect more waste.

More recently, Amp Robotics, an early entrant, has shifted its business model to focus on managing entire facilities. The move has now brought the company $91 million in new funding.

The decade-old company has deployed around 400 robots and operates three facilities with another in the pipeline. Companies can specify the number of sorting modules depending on the quantity of waste to be sorted or the material sought. Inside, cameras monitor the waste flow, using AI to identify what can be recycled, and robotic arms collect the pieces from the conveyor belt.

Amp manages operations, maintenance and upgrades, with the contracting company handling waste procurement, removal of all valuable materials and disposal of anything that cannot be recycled. This is essentially another “as a service” economic model, in which the company charges per tonne 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 circle is a little smaller than that of Amp C Serieswhich, after additions, ended up raising $104 million, per SEC Filingshighlighting the challenging fundraising environment faced by many mid- to late-stage startups.