Pi Labs led the seed round for Sorted which seeks to reduce landfill and global emissions through AI-enabled material sorting

LONDON, 23 April 2024 – Sorted, a London-based recycling tech business, has raised £1.65 million in a seed funding round led by Pi Labs. Other investors include the circular economy-focused fund Archipelago Ventures, Circular Plastics Accelerator, Conduit Connect, Antler and angel investors.

Each year, 2.12 billion tonnes of waste is dumped globally, with devastating effects on our air, oceans and soil. Governments are increasing pressure to reduce reliance on single-use materials and increase recycled content. However, the waste industry is struggling to meet this demand because of the complexity behind sorting recycled materials such as plastic, compounding a missed $133 billion opportunity.

Sorted is tackling the global sustainability issue by enabling human pickers to better sort and recover targeted materials. Using computer vision, spectroscopy and coloured lasers driven by AI, their solution identifies, differentiates and pinpoints valuable items on recycling lines. This unique use of AI offers a digitised solution to a very physical problem.

In its first use case, by increasing picker performance, Sorted has improved residual waste recovery by over 50%. Instead of going to incineration, each item recovered represents additional revenue potential for Sorted’s customers, and reduced carbon emissions.

The startup already counts some of the largest waste management and recycling firms across the UK and France as customers, including SUEZ UK and Cawleys.

Sorted was co-founded in 2022 by Arthur Goujon and Luis Espinosa. Arthur has over 15 years’ experience in waste management and tech, including as Head of Digital at the global waste management company SUEZ, and Luis has helped scale numerous unicorns over the past decade including Uber, Rappi and DiDi.

Arthur Goujon, Co-Founder and CTO at Sorted, said: “Our mission is to help waste management companies sort their waste more effectively and maximise recovery of recyclable materials through aiding Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs) and Plastic Recovery Facilities (PRFs) in improving their workforce efficiency. We use AI to augment and better enable human pickers, and our UK pilots show increased revenue and performance as well as reduced costs through using Sorted’s technology.

“Under pressure to comply with upcoming regulations such as the UK Emissions Trading Scheme, our customers are actively seeking ways to reduce the amount of materials such as carbon-heavy plastic they send to incineration and avoid increased fees. Our product addresses this and other challenges facing the industry, enabling it to reduce its carbon footprint and increase the output and viability of recycled materials.

“We are thrilled to be supported by Pi Labs and our other investors. This new funding will enable us to expand our business development and technical teams, accelerating our go-to-market strategy.”

Faisal Butt, Founder and Managing Partner at Pi Labs, said: “With global annual waste generation predicted to increase by 70% between 2018 and 2050, we urgently need innovative solutions to help us move towards a zero waste economy. Corporations risk running afoul of their own corporate sustainability goals unless they maximise their ability to obtain recycled materials. With the creation of their super pickers, Sorted has created a digitalised and sustainable solution to this problem while helping their customers contribute to a circular economy.

“Arthur and Luis have tremendous experience individually and combined are a dynamic duo of founders. We’re very excited about Sorted’s growth potential and the contribution they will make to reducing landfill and carbon emissions. This investment furthers our portfolio of companies focused on creating healthier, more sustainable cities.”

Fred Stinchcombe, Production Regional Manager at SUEZ UK, said: “The biggest challenge we have right now is continuously adapting what we do to what brings the most value: either reducing residual waste or achieving higher quality output, but without having to redesign our plants. Sorted is tackling exactly that; the team understands our operation and is leveraging technology in a pragmatic way to start adding value from the start.”

Claire Shrewsbury, Director of Insights and Innovations at WRAP, “With the UN climate secretary warning we must urgently step-up action on emissions in the next two years, it’s imperative that we fast-track moves to a more circular economy. Capturing valuable materials at end of life for remanufacture helps reduce pressure on virgin resources and emissions. Sorted is a company that will be key to the recycling sector capturing more valuable material, and the Circular Plastics Accelerator is pleased to support its important expansion. Technology solutions which can achieve scale quickly are critical to the sector’s ability to adapt in the near term, and by enhancing and augmenting the ability of the workforce to get more material out of existing waste streams, we can see barriers to market entry being significantly reduced.”

–ENDS–

About Sorted

Sorted is a London-based recycling tech business which provides AI-powered solutions to sort recyclable materials. Sorted’s goal is to help waste companies to reduce the materials that end up in landfill or incineration. Its proprietary technology uses computer vision and spectroscopy to identify items, and controlled lasers to guide human pickers at Material Recovery Facilities (‘MRFs’). This enables waste management companies to better understand waste composition and worker efficiencies via a live dashboard. For more information, visit: https://www.sortedtech.io/

About Pi Labs

Pi Labs is an early-stage venture capital firm based in London backing founders who are creating a digital and sustainable built world. The firm has made over 80 investments since 2015, across 15 countries, over three funds, and has delivered 14 exits.

Pi Labs’ portfolio of globally-scalable solutions are transforming the built world by building a digital, sustainable future, fit for generations to come. For more information, visit: pilabs.vc.

Circular Plastics Accelerator (registered as Circular Plastics – Accelerating Growth LLP) is a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) wholly owned by Accelerating Growth Fund Ltd and supported by Archipelago Ventures Ltd. The Accelerating Growth Fund  Ltd is  a  wholly  owned  subsidiary  of  WRAP,  established  to  hold  their investments in circular economy businesses and funds. WRAP is a climate action NGO working around the globe to tackle the causes of the climate crisis and give the planet a sustainable future. Its vision is a thriving world in which climate change is no longer a problem and it brings together and work with governments, businesses, and individuals to ensure that the world’s natural resources are used more sustainably. The organisation recently opened an office in Washington DC for its WRAP in the Americas work ranging from the toe of Chile to the top of Canada.

For more information on WRAP visit: WRAP – The Climate Crisis: Act Now