The product intelligence company Smarter Sorting added $7 million this week to an ongoing funding round, bringing its investments to a total of $32 million since March.
Smarter Sorting, which has offices in Boulder, Austin, Texas, and Los Angeles, created a platform that leverages machine-learning technology to determine the chemical and ingredient information of consumer products. The platform provides guidance to users on how to safely ship, store and dispose of the products to comply with local, state and federal environmental regulations, as well as to avoid fines and become more sustainable.
The technology is used by 24 national supermarkets, warehouse clubs and retailers, including Costco, Wegmans and Albertsons Companies Inc. It's also used by more than 1,600 consumer brands, from cosmetics to cleaning products, dietary supplements and paint.
According to Crunchbase, consumer brands Lysol, Miracle-Gro and Colgate are among those that use the platform. Smarter Sorting helps its users determine whether products are flammable or corrosive, whether they need to be treated as regulated waste or if they could be donated or recycled.
Regeneration VC, a venture capital firm known for investing in early-stage climate innovators, announced this week its investment of $7 million. Michael Smith, the firm's general partner, said Smarter Sorting "sheds much needed light on the chemical composition in our everyday consumer products" and had the potential to improve how products are made, shipped and regulated.
"Smarter Sorting is focused on using data and computing for a better world, and we are so excited to work alongside Regeneration VC to help scale our environmental impact on making, marketing and moving consumer products more responsibly across the supply chain," Jacqueline Claudia, Smarter Sorting's CEO, said in a news release.
Claudia said the company would use the investment to hire more employees and continue building out its platform. Enhancing its technology and scaling its business operations will help ensure consumer products are stocked on retailers' shelves more quickly and in compliance with regulations, the company said.
So far, its proprietary technology can classify 2 million consumer products and identify 150 million chemical compounds.
The company claims its technology has helped to divert tens of thousands of tons of waste from landfills and safely dispose of thousands of pounds of hazardous waste.
Regeneration's $7 million investment closes out a financing round that was first announced in March with a $25 million investment from G2 Venture Partners, a venture firm focused on companies that improve sustainability in traditional industries.
"Smarter Sorting is the only company creating intelligent datasets that connect the chemical and physical properties of products with growing local, state and federal regulations for improved sustainability," Daniel Oros, a partner at G2 Venture Partners, said in a news release.
At the same time it announced the $25 million investment, Smarter Sorting named Claudia as the company's CEO. Claudia, who is based in Boulder, worked as Smarter Sorting's chief revenue officer for two years and previously founded the sustainable seafood company LoveTheWild.
Smarter Sorting was founded in 2015 and has so far raised $65 million. The company employs about 75 people across its three offices.
