Sorting technology specialist AMP Robotics has raised US$ 91 million (EUR 92.1 million) in corporate equity to help expansion plans which includes a fleet of 275 robots around the world.
This new round of funding from investors including Congruent Ventures and Blue Earth Capital follows a US$ 55 million investment in January 2021. Other priorities are enhancing AMP’s ongoing development of AI-enabled automation applications for recycling such as AMP Vortex, the company’s latest innovation for recovery of film and flexible packaging.
Demand for robotics to retrofit existing recycling infrastructure ‘continues to thrive’, according to AMP. This is in large part due to ambitious recycled content targets announced in the consumer packaging sector for 2025.
‘Our focus from the outset has been our application of AI-powered automation to economically and sustainably improve our global recycling system,’ says Matanya Horowitz, founder and ceo of AMP Robotics. ‘We’ve been fortunate to attract a passionate team, loyal customers, and visionary investors along the way. With this new funding, we’ll accelerate our efforts to modernise and expand our recycling infrastructure, aiding society’s path to a circular economy.’
Horwitz cites market data marking landfilled plastics as ‘significant losses’ to the US economy, with an untapped value of around US$ 7.2 billion. The recovery of plastic packaging and food packaging alone is said to be worth between US$ 2 and US$ 4 billion per year.
He points out that his company’s AI platform, AMP Neuron, has recognised more than 50 billion objects in operational conditions. ‘This makes it the largest known dataset of recyclable materials for machine learning.’
‘AMP’s technology is rewriting the economics of recycling, marrying purpose with profit for our recycling partners,’ adds Abe Yokell, co-founder and managing partner of investor Congruent Ventures. ‘It is a privilege to be able to support such a mission-driven team as they have grown from an eight-person operation to an industry leader.’
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