Sortera Technologies closes $30.5M in new funding

The company says the funding round will help it to build sorting and processing facilities across North America to serve the mixed aluminum scrap market.

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Sortera Technologies Inc., an Indiana-based material sorting company with a recycling platform powered by artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics and advanced sensors, has announced the close of a $30.5 million Series C funding round it says will fuel its growth in the domestic upcycling space, adding it will help to affirm the company’s commitment to solutions that create new upcycling streams, enable a circular economy and contribute to a more sustainable future.

The funding round was led by RA Capital Management-Planetary Health, with participation from certain funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates Inc., the Mineral Resources Group, which is part of Mitsubishi Corp.’s Business Incubation Unit, and Macquarie GIG Energy Transition Solutions (MGETS). Additional existing investors include Assembly Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Chrysalix.

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In two-and-a-half years, Sortera says it has demonstrated its technology platform can accurately and rapidly handle complex sorting of preproduction aluminum and end-of-life mixed metals. The company’s first full-scale facility, in Markle, Indiana, currently is being commissioned to sort up to 220 million pounds of mixed metals per year. By sorting mixed metals into single alloy streams, Sortera says it enables greater use of recycled material in manufacturing, lowers the costs of metals production, increases the availability of metals for domestic manufacturers and reduces pollution and greenhouse gas emissions associated with virgin metals production.

The resulting high-quality upcycled materials from Sortera’s operation will be put back into the U.S. market, representing a significant contribution to the circular economy movement and to the security of domestic resources, the company says. The Series C funds will be used to expand the company’s operations in North America and accelerate its growth in the metals and recycling markets.

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Sortera recently established a research and development (R&D) facility in Austin, Texas, to focus on advancing its sorting platform that uses advanced sensors and AI. The company says it aims to transform the recycling industry by driving innovation and focusing on sustainability in the upcycling sector to build a network of sorting and processing facilities. Sortera’s technology allows it to capitalize on domestic feedstocks that have traditionally been sent overseas to be recycled into lower-grade materials.

Sortera says it will continue to expand its capabilities in metals and other recyclable materials that are critical to future growth of the economy.

“To have secured interest and commitments from globally recognized high caliber investors such as RA Capital Management, T. Rowe Price, Mitsubishi Corp. and MGETS, along with our existing investors Assembly Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Chrysalix, who understood the level of sophistication, effectiveness and potential of our technology platform from the earliest stages, not only validates the importance of our technology for the domestic U.S. recycling market but its potential on a global scale,” Sortera CEO Michael Siemer says. “This funding round affirms our contributions towards global sustainable efforts and will be used to scale our operations to commercialization, grow our team and, most importantly, continue to provide high-quality upcycled metal materials to our customer base.”

Kyle Teamey, managing partner at RA Capital Management-Planetary Health, says, “Sortera’s technology advances the goals of a healthy environment and a healthy economy, and does so in a critically important sector. Nonferrous metals, such as aluminum and copper, are essential to the ongoing massive growth in renewable energy and electric vehicles that are at the core of the energy transition. Sortera enables the transition to a cleaner, more productive economy while also providing an economic boon to metal producers.”

Sortera says its Markle plant is expected to be fully operational this year. Once it’s up and running, it is expected to increase the company’s overall processing capacity to 220 million pounds of mixed aluminum scrap annually, which would otherwise be sent overseas. The company adds that it is focused on advancing the recyclability of a variety of other materials, which will contribute to the reduction of overall CO­2 emissions and advance customers’ sustainability goals.

Recently, the company changed its name from Sortera Alloys to Sortera Technologies to reflect its intentions to work with upcyclable materials beyond just metal alloys.