Equipment Report

Amp Robotics raises $55M in financing

Denver-based Amp Robotics has announced that it has raised $55 million in corporate equity in Series B financing, led by New York-based XN with participation from Valor Equity Partners and GV, which are new investors, as well as existing investors Sequoia Capital, Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners, Congruent Ventures and Closed Loop Partners. Amp Robotics says this new round of funding follows $16 million in Series A financing led by Sequoia Capital in November 2019.

According to a news release from Amp Robotics, the company plans to use this latest funding to scale its business operations to meet market demand for its technology and to develop new artificial intelligence (AI) product applications that can be used by material recovery facility operators to increase recycling rates. The new capital also will help to support Amp’s market expansion as it works with consumer packaged goods companies, such as Keurig Dr Pepper, to help them achieve recycled-content and sustainability goals for a circular economy.

“We are putting this next round of investment to work immediately to create novel technology for the waste industry and meaningfully contribute to reducing society’s impact on the environment,” says Matanya Horowitz, founder and CEO of Amp Robotics.

Amp’s technology applies computer vision and deep learning to guide high-speed robotics systems to identify and differentiate recyclables by color, size, shape, opacity and consumer brand.

“We’ve seen strong traction with our AI and robotics technology, particularly over the last two years,” Horowitz says. “We’ve really proven we have something beneficial to offer the industry, and that allowed investors to place a bigger bet.”

“We’re thrilled to partner with Matanya at this juncture in Amp’s journey,” Gaurav Kapadia, the founder and CEO of XN says. “He has assembled a world-class team, demonstrated impressive commercial traction and laid the groundwork to build a category-defining business over the next decade.”

Kapadia adds that he believes Amp’s technology, vision and strategy will improve the ability to recover and reuse materials, thereby creating a more circular economy.

Horowitz says the company’s growth over the last 24 months makes now the perfect time to work with these investors to help Amp achieve its long-term goals.

“The expansion of AI applications for material identification and recovery is a major focus for us,” Horowitz says. “We are developing new vision system offerings, innovating data capture for waste characterization to support operators and expanding data access to packaging producers to help them achieve recycled-content goals. Increasing the range of tasks our robots can perform is vital, as is creating a strong service function to best support our customers.”

Horowitz says these investments allow Amp to get ahead of demand while also expanding other areas of the company to accelerate long-term plans.

AMCS receives SOC 1 Type II accreditation

AMCS, a Limerick, Ireland-based global supplier of integrated software and vehicle technology for the waste and recycling industry, has attained SOC 1 Type II compliance. The company says the accreditation highlights that AMCS operates best practice controls and procedures to ensure a customer-centric approach to operations.

SOC 1 Type II is an internationally recognized standard that examines internal business controls. The audit is focused on controls that are intended to meet the needs of the management and auditors of AMCS’ customers. The report, independently audited by a global accountancy network, validates the suitability of the design and operating effectiveness of AMCS’ controls. AMCS says the report covered 38 controls across seven key process areas—new project delivery, initial processing, customer support, data backup, logical access, product development and change management.

“AMCS has always focused on delivering the best service for our customers,” says Leonard Dolan, director of business processes and systems at AMCS Group. “This includes providing them with assurances that we have all appropriate internal controls and systems in place. ... We are proud to be the first software company in our sector to obtain the SOC 1 Type II accreditation.

“The accreditation focuses on specific customers, and we would encourage our existing and potential customers to work with us in obtaining this additional assurance for their specific business. AMCS is currently in the process of obtaining SOC 2 Type II, which will evaluate controls relevant to security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality and privacy. We plan to obtain this in Q2 2021,” he adds.