London, UK – Greyparrot, a leader in AI-powered waste analytics, has received investment from Regeneration.VC following its $11 million Series A funding round. Regeneration.VC is a US-based early-stage venture capital fund investing in Consumer ClimateTech, with a growing portfolio of early pioneers including Pangaia, Colorifix and Smarter Sorting. The fund is partnering with Greyparrot to tackle the global waste crisis and address challenges faced by the recycling industry.
The new investment from Regeneration.VC, alongside other US investors such as Closed Loop Partners, shines a spotlight on the pressing need for innovation in waste management and the growing demand for Greyparrot’s solution in the US. With the investment, Michael Smith, Co-Founder and General Partner of Regeneration.VC has joined the Greyparrot Board of Directors.
The global waste crisis has reached a tipping point, with over 2B tons of waste generated annually and only 14% recycled, resulting in resources worth $82 billion ending up in landfills. The outdated $2.1T waste management industry remains offline in an online world, making it virtually impossible for recycling plants to track the purity of products, emissions, and recovery rates at scale. Without digitizing waste, the opportunity of a $4.5T circular economy remains far off in the future.
“Only 1% of waste flows are recorded through manual sampling." says Greyparrot's co-founder and CEO, Mikela Druckman. “As the saying goes, 'What can't be measured, can't be managed.' In the case of recycling, this lack of proper tracking has dire consequences for our planet. By harnessing the power of AI to monitor waste and integrating that intelligence into sorting machines, we're able to improve waste segregation on a massive scale. This not only provides waste managers with the opportunity to extract the full financial value of waste, but also plays a crucial role in preserving our natural resources and keeping our planet clean."
Greyparrot uses AI and computer vision to ‘see’ and categorize waste materials by composition, brand, mass and financial value in real time. The award-winning waste monitoring systems are deployed across recycling plants in 20+ countries and have already tracked over 25 billion objects annually. That data has helped recyclers divert 66,000 tons of waste from landfills and incinerators, avoiding 20 MtCO₂ in the process. Greyparrot has established itself as a prominent player with its customers covering 60% of the European waste management market. The company has successfully partnered with some of the most reputable names in the industry, including industry giants such as Suez, Biffa, and Veolia.
"Greyparrot’s solution is a powerful new ClimateTech tool positioned to immediately minimize waste and valorize post-consumer material streams," said Michael Smith, General Partner at Regeneration.VC. "Never before has real-time waste data been accessible at this scale and in such detail, marking a true breakthrough for the waste industry. Already engaged with the leading waste companies worldwide, Greyparrot can leverage these supply chain insights to empower global producers with data-driven strategies for circular product and packaging design.”
At a time where "greenwashing" and opaque carbon offsetting programs are common, Greyparrot believes supply chain transparency is imperative to hold producers accountable and foster responsible practices.
“Regeneration.VC brings expertise, commitment, and passion to supercharge our mission of digitizing the recycling industry," said Ambarish Mitra, co-founder and CPO of Greyparrot. "Greyparrot’s solution will elevate waste management to the next level, turning every piece of waste into a valuable resource."
