Today marks a significant milestone for Glacier.
I’m thrilled to announce our latest $7.7 million funding round, with support from an exceptionally multidisciplinary group of investors including Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Overture , AlleyCorp, Elemental Excelerator, and VSC Ventures.
It’s been a valuable moment to reflect on our journey thus far.
I first met my cofounder Areeb Malik at a coffee shop. We were connected by a friend who said, “You’re both weirdly obsessed with trash.”
Areeb pitched me his idea to build an AI-enabled recycling robot, and asked if I wanted to start a company. I said “No - but I’ll help write a business plan.”
Those next few weeks changed my life.
In that time, I learned that nearly 80% of residential recyclables in the US are not recycled, resulting in a staggering amount of pollution and billions of dollars in raw materials literally thrown away each year.
I spoke to dozens of recycling facility operators, who shared that they were struggling to recover enough high-quality recyclables to stay in business, especially with labor shortages at an all-time peak.
For the first time in my life, I saw a confluence of market demand, climate impact, and the ability to build solutions with cutting-edge technology - solutions that were commercially infeasible just 10 years prior.
Five years after that fateful coffee shop meeting with Areeb, we’re well on our way to helping the recycling industry create a world without waste.
We’ve designed a purpose-built, industry-leading robot and AI platform that any recycling facility can use.
We’ve built a team that is creative, humble, resilient, and similarly obsessed with trash.
We’ve forged relationships with industry leaders in all segments of the circular economy: recyclers, brands, and government.
Amazon is leading by example - in addition to being an investor, they also announced a pilot program with Glacier to track and improve the recyclability of packaging.
It’s going to take an unprecedented amount of collaboration to make a true dent in circularity, and we’re proud to work with Amazon to pave the way.
With this partnership and Glacier’s growing network of collaborators, we're poised to accelerate our impact across the U.S. and beyond.
To our supporters and partners, thank you for joining us in this exciting chapter.
Read more at Amazon's blog post: https://lnkd.in/ga2VbdDM
https://lnkd.in/gYS75axD
Global Chief Product Officer at Strategic Education, Inc.
5moFYI Tom Phillips