Recycling-focused AI and robotics company, Glacier, announced today that it has raised $7.7 million to support its growth and capabilities aimed at enabling more materials to be recycled, avoiding waste, and helping reduce emissions.

The funding round was led by venture investor New Enterprise Associates and Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, with additional participation from investors including AlleyCorp, Overture Climate VC, and VSC Ventures.

Co-founded in 2019 by Rebecca Hu and Areeb Malik, San Francisco-based Glacier provides solutions aimed at improving sorting and recycling rates, to address issues that hold back many recyclable materials from entering the recycling stream. The company uses AI-powered robots to automate the sorting of recyclables and collect real-time data on recycling streams for recycling companies and consumer brands. The technology replaces cumbersome recycling equipment with a robot that occupies the same footprint as a person and can be installed without heavy machinery or facility downtime. According to Glacier, the solution can identify over 30 different materials, including challenging materials such as grocery bags and trash bags, which are notoriously difficult to sort using traditional recycling processes.

Areeb Malik, Co-founder of Glacier said:

“Waste is a significant climate issue that’s not being solved quickly enough and we believe we’ve developed the right technology to solve it. Our breakthrough lies in designing purpose-built machinery tailored to solve the needs of the recycling industry.”

In addition to its new investment, Amazon also announced a collaboration with Glacier to pilot a sortation project for novel biomaterials, aimed at supporting Amazon’s vision to reduce plastic use and shift toward using materials that are bio-based, as well as those that are biodegradable and compostable.

Nick Ellis, Principal of Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, said:

“Amazon is always looking at new ways to innovate on behalf of our customers, and plastic packaging is no exception. In order to build a future where new materials can be recycled at scale, we must test options to move these materials through the recycling system. Partnering with Glacier will enable us to test the role of novel AI and robotics-based recycling technologies so that we can identify and aggregate novel packaging materials that can ultimately be recycled and repurposed.”

Amazon’s investment, through its $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund, its venture investment program to back visionary companies developing products and services that facilitate the transition to a zero carbon economy. The investment forms part of a $53 million commitment by the Climate Pledge Fund to aimed at supporting women-owned climate tech companies.

Phoebe Wang, Investment Partner at Amazon Climate Pledge Fund, said:

“The diversity of Glacier’s team is an invaluable asset as they work to solve a problem as complex as the climate crisis. We look forward to supporting more companies like them through their entrepreneurial journey.”

Glacier said that it will use the funds from the new investment to expand its team and to bolster its recycling capabilities to support its collaboration with Amazon, enhancing traceability and recovery processes for recyclable materials.

Rebecca Hu, co-founder of Glacier, said:

“We’re excited by the progress we’ve made in the recycling industry, but to maximize Glacier’s impact on recycling, it’s essential that we work with stakeholders across the circular economy, including brands. That’s why we’re thrilled to collaborate with a sustainability leader like Amazon.”