ESG Today writes that the funding round was led by VC New Enterprise Associates and Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund. Additionally, the round saw participation from AlleyCorp and Overture Climate VC.

San Francisco-based Glacier was cofounded in 2019 by Rebecca Hu and Areeb Malik and the company provides solutions to improve the sorting and recycling of various products, helping specialized recyclers address the issues that make recycling difficult. Using AI-powered robots, the company can massively reduce the footprint of large sorting equipment, while improving sorting accuracy and tracking recycling rates.

Areeb Malik, Co-founder of Glacier, said that "waste is a significant climate issue that’s not being solved quickly enough and we believe we’ve developed the right technology to solve it. Our breakthrough lies in designing purpose-built machinery tailored to solve the needs of the recycling industry."

Amazon also announced it will collaborate with Glacier to pilot a sorting process for innovative biomaterials, supporting the company's mission to reduce the reliance on traditional plastic.

Nick Ellis, Principal of Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, added that "in order to build a future where new materials can be recycled at scale, we must test options to move these materials through the recycling system. Partnering with Glacier will enable us to test the role of novel AI and robotics-based recycling technologies so that we can identify and aggregate novel packaging materials that can ultimately be recycled and repurposed."

Glacier officials said that the funding will be used to grow its team, as well as extend recycling capabilities, following its collaboration with Amazon.

Rebecca Hu, co-founder of Glacier, added that "we’re excited by the progress we’ve made in the recycling industry, but to maximize Glacier’s impact on recycling, it’s essential that we work with stakeholders across the circular economy, including brands."