Origins

Matanya Horowitz had been fascinated from a young age by what creates intelligence and how humans became adept at the many things we do, from the way we use our hands to our ability to read, think, and analyze.

What started as an affinity for Transformers, Saturday morning cartoons like The Jetsons, and the robot tales of Isaac Asimov eventually led Matanya to graduate school to study robotics after earning his master’s degree in the same four years as multiple undergraduate degrees at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

While pursuing his doctorate at Caltech, Matanya applied his range of academic experience in the labs of engineers Joel Burdick and John Doyle to help advance robotics and intelligent systems. He was also active in several Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) challenges seeking to develop better control mechanisms for robotic arms, as well as humanoid robots able to perform human-like tasks in dangerous situations, like disable bombs or enter nuclear power plants during emergencies.

These experiences offered Matanya the opportunity to see what was working well in robotics and what remained a challenge—and gave him a deeper appreciation for the sophistication of human behavior. He noted how powerful, and how quickly, computer vision was becoming.

Matanya began looking at different areas where the technologies he studied could be most useful, and evaluated a number of industrial applications. That eventually led him to recycling.

Recycling was the right fit for a number of reasons—not least because no one else was working on it. After visiting a materials recovery facility and seeing not only how demanding work conditions were, but how wasteful the processes can be, Matanya recognized this neglected industry was ripe for change. The convergence of machine learning and robotics offered compelling opportunities to automate what had historically been tasks that were labor intensive, high cost, inconsistent, and limiting. Automation could unlock significantly more value from these complex, heterogeneous material streams. The challenges of recycling were appealing because solving them meant addressing a critical and unmet need that combined Matanya’s passion for computer vision and robotics with his desire to help the environment.

Smart Waste Systems got off the ground with the help of early-stage grant funding and the support of partners like the Carton Council and Denver’s Alpine Waste and Recycle (now GFL Environmental), where the company tested its first robot prototype. The initial systems needed a lot of work, and there was a lot to learn. But the team was determined to figure it out, despite setbacks that included broken robots, experimentation with countless methods, and occasional rotten milk splashes.

But the hard work and late nights in the materials recovery facility eventually paid off, and things started to click. Early venture funding allowed the team to double in size to about 10 people and hone in and perfect the product. Fast-forward another year, and the systems were meeting performance and reliability expectations without issues, and the industry started to recognize the technology’s value.

It wasn’t just the industry taking notice. In 2019, Smart Waste Systems raised Series A funding of $16 million, a milestone both in the elevation of the company’s profile and its ability to expand the team and reach. Series B funding of $55 million followed a little more than a year later; Smart Waste Systems raised a $91 million Series C in 2022. We’re deploying AI and robotics technology globally and scaling our organization rapidly to meet demand, with the backing of top-tier investors who recognize the long-term benefit it provides to our customers, the economy, and the environment.