Smarter Sorting Raises $5M in Seed Funding

After six months as a company, Austin, Texas-based Smarter Sorting has closed $5 million in seed funding. The technology company says it will use the new capital to invest further in machine learning technology.

"We already have a world-class team of technologists and data scientists led by the minds behind Wolfram Alpha. This funding will allow us to scale, bringing our AI powers and vertically integrated reuse and compliance platform to North America's largest retailers and most innovative municipalities,” said Chris Ripley, CEO of Smarter Sorting, in a statement. “In the end, the support of these firms and the cash infusion means we have a tremendous opportunity to accomplish our core mission: Increasing reuse and bringing data-driven transparency to an opaque industry previously characterized only by disposal and incineration.”

Smarter Sorting has developed technology that can accurately identify, categorize and sort every class of chemical containing product. $2.5 million of the seed funding will come from RTP Ventures, a venture capital fund based in New York City.

“RTP Ventures is comprised of world-class technologists (with expertise in the Internet of Things including startups HYPR and Owlet.) They are a great partner for Smarter Sorting as they are led by a true computer science guru with an amazing ‘get it’ factor. The fit is natural since they develop ground-breaking technologies like ours,” said Ripley in a statement.