Enevo raises funds from private equity firms

Enevo, an Espoo, Finland-based company that is developing and marketing a sensor-based waste collection system for solid waste and recyclables, has raised $8 million to expand its business from a number of private equity firms, including Earlybird and Draper Associates.

Enevo says its service optimizes waste collection by analyzing fill-level and operations data from its network of small wireless sensors in waste containers and recycling sites. The sensor network sends data to Enevo servers for advanced analysis, fill level modeling and predictions for waste management companies and municipalities to optimize their fleet use, service costs and fuel consumption. The company says that with more efficient collection information its customers can save up to 50 percent in operations costs.

“Enevo fundamentally changes the way we think about waste collection logistics – going from a static and hugely inefficient way of operating to a completely dynamic and demand-based model,” says Frederik Kekalainen, founder and CEO of Enevo. “By using a combination of smart sensor data, predictive analytics and advanced combinatorial optimization algorithms, we can determine the most optimal fleet size, routes and schedules for not only collection logistics, but also for delivery of bulk materials such as heating oil, diesel and even pellet fuels,” he adds.

“Enevo’s model is very unique in that it combines the best of ‘Internet of things’, a big data platform and all wrapped-up in a SaaS (software as a service) model. The team is working on one of the biggest challenges of growing urban environments and we are excited to back them in this endeavor,” says Hendrik Brandis, a partner at Earlybird.

“Enevo has identified huge inefficiencies in an old-fashioned gigantic industry that has not yet been touched by technology, and we believe the waste management industry is ripe for disruption. Enevo is transforming the entire waste collection industry, just like Uber did for the taxi industry and Airbnb for the hotel industry,” comments Tim Draper, founder of Draper Associates.