AMP raises $91 million to drive AI-powered sortation technology growth
The investment will accelerate the deployment of cost-effective AMP ONE systems for municipal solid waste
AMP has raised $91 million in corporate equity in a Series D financing led by Congruent Ventures. AMP provides AI-powered sortation at scale for the waste and recycling industry, and will use the latest funding to accelerate the deployment of its AMP ONE systems, which are designed to cost-effectively sort municipal solid waste (MSW).
"Recycling rates have stagnated in the United States, despite the positive benefits recycling offers local economies and the environment," says Matanya Horowitz, founder of AMP. "This latest investment enables us to tackle larger projects and deliver real outcomes for waste companies and municipalities — by lowering sortation costs, capturing more material value, diverting organic waste, and extending landfill life — all while helping the industry optimize its strategic assets."
The round featured participation from current and new investors, including Sequoia Capital, XN, Blue Earth Capital, Liberty Mutual Investments, California State Teachers Retirement System, Wellington Management, Range Ventures, and Tao Capital Partners.
A new facility for Waste Connections
Last month, AMP also entered into an agreement with Waste Connections to equip and operate one of Waste Connections' single-stream recycling facilities in Colorado. AMP ONE will provide a full-scale facility solution to sort various material streams and capture more of the billions of dollars in value otherwise lost to landfills or incinerated annually, says the company.
AMP's AI uses deep learning to continuously train itself by processing millions of material images into data. The software uses pattern recognition of colours, textures, shapes, sizes, and logos to identify recyclables and contaminants in real time, enabling new offtake chemistries and capabilities.
From MRF retrofitting to full-scale recycling facilities
AMP's first products were a series of sorting robots deployed with minimal retrofit into existing recycling facilities. The company then pioneered a series of next-generation, transformative recycling facilities. With near-zero manual sorting, excellent reliability, and pervasive data, these facilities make the recovery of commodities safer and more cost-effective than ever and have grown to encompass MSW sorting, an offering out of reach to the industry prior to the advent of AMP's technology, says the company.
"AMP's AI sortation systems enable consumers to recycle both with and without curbside separation, and communities to benefit from the recovery of recycled commodities while reducing dependence on landfills," says Abe Yokell, co-founder and managing partner of Congruent Ventures. "AMP is an example of the real-world impacts of AI; solutions like AMP's will divert billions of tons of recyclable material from landfills while reducing emissions."
