Smarter Sorting Secures $17M in Series A Funding

Smarter Sorting, an Austin, Texas-based startup that creates granular, chemical-level data about consumer products, has secured $17 million in Series A funding. This business development round was led by US Ecology, a regulated waste treatment and disposal company, followed by RTP Ventures and a group of independent industry experts. With a shared vision to use data and innovation to cut retail regulated waste by 50 percent, Smarter Sorting and US Ecology are also integrating their operations to bring transparency to consumer products’ end of life management.

The new round of funding will help Smarter Sorting solidify its position as a leading retail waste management and compliance platform, as well as push the company into a growth market by becoming a top solution for consumer product regulatory classification. With its existing foundational technologies, Smarter Sorting is uniquely positioned to transform the consumer product data market, providing customers with significant competitive advantages.

At its foundation, Smarter Sorting is the first technology company to manage and canonicalize granular product attributes, including a product’s full chemical components, physical state depending upon environment and effect on animals and the environment. Through machine learning that “codes” chemistry and regulations, this data is the foundation of Smarter Sorting’s Universal Product Database. Together, the data and the database permit regulatory classifications, product data management and supply chain communication to be consolidated into a single platform. API-based integrations then enable manufacturers, transportation companies and retailers to better create, ship, sell and dispose of every consumer product on the market today.

"By understanding items down to their chemical level and building software designed to optimize and simplify the use of advanced data, we enable retailers and other stakeholders to sustainably and accountably handle products," said Smarter Sorting CEO Chris Ripley in a statement. "By doing so, we are creating a brand new era of responsible commerce. As a tech company whose mission is to cut waste and extend products’ life, we couldn’t be more excited to continue pursuing our purpose in coming years.”

Smarter Sorting’s vision is to work with partners across the supply chain to wield the power of big data to help solve the product packaging crisis, to advance green chemistry and to end the testing of cosmetics on animals, all while providing significant return on invesment to every partner.