Recycler AI maker AMP Robotics raises $55M in Series B

LOUISVILLE — AMP Robotics Corp. brought in $55 million in its second round of funding last week, including an undisclosed investment from Google’s venture capital group.

The Louisville-based company raised the funds from 10 investors in an all-equity round, according to filings to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Dec. 31. It now has raised approximately $69.65 million when including its $14.65 million Series A round in November 2019.

The round was led by XN LP, a London-based hedge fund with reportedly $1 billion in backing last year. New investors to the company include Valor Equity Partners and GV, the venture capital arm of Google owner Alphabet Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOGL), while previous investors Sequoia Capital, Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners, Congruent Ventures and Closed Loop Partners also participated in the round.

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AMP Robotics produces artificial intelligence software and robotic equipment to automate the manual work of separating recyclable materials in a waste stream from non-recyclables.

In an interview with BizWest, CEO Matanya Horowitz said the funds will be used to hire staff and build infrastructure for deploying the company’s technology in Canada, Japan and European countries as an effort to expand internationally. The round’s proceeds will also be used to expand the company’s AI capabilities, such as using the technology to estimate how dirty a recyclable item is before it is sent off to be remade into something else.

While the identification and sorting technology has use cases in other industries outside of waste, Horowitz said AMP’s focus for the next few years will be in growing its market share in other areas where demand for saving recyclable material is high, such as electronics waste and demolished buildings.

“What we found is there’s such a strong market demand for these tools in recycling that we’re really kind of doubling down on the recycling business and focusing on what we are expanding in terms of domains within recycling.”

Horowitz said the company of about 90 employees should grow its headcount by 50% to 70% in 2021 and continue to hire in double-digit percentages if demand continues at its current pace. While some staff are working remotely and new hires will be working abroad, the majority of those new hires are expected to be in Colorado.

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