AI tech startup Greyparrot has raised £1.825m to tackle the growing waste crisis by introducing digitisation and automation to recycling.
The round was led by Speedinvest, a leading early-stage industrial tech investor, with participation from Force Over Mass.
Greyparrot provides waste recognition software to monitor and sort waste at scale. Their first product, an Automated Waste Monitoring System, is currently deployed on moving conveyor belts in sorting facilities to measure large waste flows.
The system automatically identifies different types of waste, providing composition information and analytics to help facilities increase recycling rates.
Mikela Druckman, Co-founder & CEO of Greyparrot said, “One of the key problems we are solving is the lack of data. We see increasing demand from consumers, brands, governments and waste managers for better insights to transition to a more circular economy.
“There is an urgent opportunity to optimise waste management with further digitisation and automation using deep learning.”
The company’s focus on building cutting-edge software while adopting affordable hardware makes its solution ideal for large-scale deployment even in emerging markets.
Greyparrot also has an advantage in being hardware agnostic, providing intelligent software which can be customised and integrated with hardware across multiple use cases. This model gives further flexibility and scalability to its customers. The company is already collaborating with suppliers of next-gen systems such as smart bins and sorting robots.
Wayne Hubbard, CEO of the London Waste and Recycling Board said, “We are thrilled to see that Greyparrot, a start-up business supported by LWARB’s Advance London programme, has been able to secure significant private investment to scale their ground-breaking technology.
“AI, robotics and other innovative technologies in the waste industry will be key to ensure the transition to a low-carbon, circular economy.” LWARB is a partnership of the Mayor of London and the London boroughs to improve waste and resource management in the city.
Marie-Hélène Ametsreiter, Lead Partner at Speedinvest Industry, added: “Waste is not only a massive market – it builds up to a global crisis.
“Greyparrot’s solution has proven to bring down recycling costs and help plants recover more waste. Ultimately it unlocks the value of waste and creates a measurable impact for the environment.”
The additional funding will be used to further develop and scale Greyparrot’s solution across global markets, setting the company up to revolutionise the recycling industry with artificial intelligence.