As environmental sustainability gains prominence as a priority worldwide, investors are supporting promising innovations. AMP Robotics Corp. last week said it has received investment from Microsoft's Climate Innovation Fund as part of its Series C round. The Solon, Ohio-based company said it has raised more than $99 million in that round, which was led by Congruent Ventures and Wellington Management.
“We’ve been fortunate to attract world-class investors based on the proven viability of our AI platform as a category-defining technology application for the waste industry, and we’re grateful for the investment from Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund,” stated Matanya Horowitz, founder and CEO of AMP Robotics.
“With its deep expertise and innovation in AI and broad involvement in climate, Microsoft brings an unmatched perspective to our work here at AMP,” he said in a press release. “This new funding will further our efforts to improve the economics and efficiency of recycling and transform our industrialized global economy into a more circular one.”
AMP Robotics IDs 75B objects
AMP Robotics said it is applying artificial intelligence and automation to economically recover raw materials for the global supply chain. The company added that it has deployed hundreds of sorting devices globally to increase recycling rates and landfill diversion.
With hundreds of deployments across North America, Asia, and Europe, AMP claimed that its technology can reclaim plastics, paper, and metals from municipal collection. The company said its systems can also retrieve valuable commodities from electronic scrap, materials from construction and demolition debris, and feedstocks from organic material.
AMP recently unveiled the AMP Cortex-C compact sortation system along with an integrated, standalone facility offering for waste management companies. These developments follow the launch of AMP Vortex to handle film contamination and improve recovery of film and flexible packaging.
The company said it AI platform identified nearly 75 billion objects in 2022 alone. In addition to developing systems to retrofit existing recycling facilities, AMP said it designs, builds out, operates, and services new facilities.
Investors, lawmakers push recycling
Automation promises to improve material recovery by boosting productivity, reducing contamination, and addressing labor shortages, said AMP Robotics. Brands have committed to increasing the post-consumer content, and state legislators are raising waste diversion goals and expanding producer responsibility programs, the company noted.
“There's an urgent need for solutions and ongoing innovation to address our critical waste crisis,” said Brandon Middaugh, senior director of the Climate Innovation Fund at Microsoft. “AMP provides a powerful and scalable application of AI-enabled automation to help meet the world's imperative climate objectives by extending the circular economy.”
AMP said it is using its Series C funding to scale its operations, deploying technologies to retrofit existing recycling infrastructure and expand new facilities.
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