Antler, the zero-day early-stage investor, has been one of Europe’s most active funds in not just identifying world-changing startups at the very beginning of their journey, but also providing practical support and opportunities for founders. One of their events is the Antler European Founder Conference, and TFN was invited to meet the founders of tomorrow’s big names.
Luis Espinosa is the cofounder of Sorted, a waste pioneer, they provide tools that can massively increase the nation’s recycling rate. He told TFN about his journey to founding Sorted, the difference it makes, shared some of his thoughts on the market, and what new founders need to do to succeed.
Watch the full interview below.
A journey towards waste!
Espinosa covered three continents on his way to starting Sorted. A Colombian, his first startup, a B2B logistics SaaS, was in his home country. After exiting, he worked for a succession of big names, including Uber, LatAm unicorn Rappi, and the Uber competitor, Didi, a career that took him to the Emirates.
Moving to the UK three years ago, he met his Sorted cofounder, Frenchman Arthur Goujon just before entering the Antler programme. “We met for a coffee, and in that very British way we ended up in a pub, having a beer,” Espinosa joked. Discussing ideas for startups Goujon’s background in waste management provided the idea.
“He knows the industry very well, he knew the problems,” said Espinosa. “There are some novel technologies out there such as robots, they’re very futuristic, trying to replace the humans,” he explained, but Goujon’s idea meant they were able to penetrate the market faster.
Sorted’s solution
Sorted works, says Espinosa, by “bridging the gap between the technology and the physical world.”
“Unfortunately, speaking about the UK, the recycling rates are under 45%,” Espinosa told us. “The government is to increase that to 65% within the next 30 years. That’s still very challenging.” However, the industry still relies heavily on human effort, and while we already sort our waste for collection, further sorting is required in processing centres. “This is an industry that relies on a lot of human labour,” Espinosa said. “You will see people working on conveyor belts trying to sort things manually.”
Sorted helps with that process by assisting the humans, improving their efficiency and recycling rates. It’s not just good for the environment, either. “For example, one tonne of HDP, like the milk jugs that we have in the UK, is worth more than 10 times a tonne of recycled plastic play paper,” Espinosa explained. “So, by focusing on recovering the most valuable materials, we increase the revenue of the recycling centres.”
The system works by using computer vision to identify different types of waste, then uses lasers to identify them to workers. “It’s like a very basic form of augmented reality,” Espinosa said.
Sorted’s advantage is that rather than trying to replace humans, it assists them, and does it in a way that is compatible with existing facilities. “The technology that we have developed is very easy to install and retrofit in any recycling facility,” Espinosa told us. “So, companies don’t have to make huge investments to improve their core infrastructure.”
Investing in the future
Sorted’s unique positioning has helped it get off to the strong start. Others in the market fall into two camps, says Espinosa, robotics, that require significant investment, or software-based analytics. “Our value proposition is, ‘Hey, we can take your operation and improve it in a very cost-efficient way’,” he said.
And it’s been successful in raising funds, in just a year since they started, they have raised £1.8 million. Alongside the pre-seed investment and support from Antler, their seed round attracted further investment, “our lead investor is Pi Labs,” Espinosa said. “Another fund is Archipelago Investors, they’re very focused on circular economy and waste management, so that brings a lot of credibility.”
Their focus now is on building their technical team and expanding their customer base. “Right now we’re working with two of the biggest waste management companies in the UK, and one of the biggest ones in France,” Espinosa said. “We’re always keen to keep a getting to know more customers and understand their pain points.”
And, as part of Antler’s purpose is to help founders, Espinosa shared his advice for new founders. Part of it is staying power, he said. “Don’t give up. It’s a tough environment, it is for everyone.” He also drew on his own personal experience and highlighted the importance of a building a network. Coming from Colombia, he struggled without a pre-built network. “We know that there are still a lot of warm intros,” he said, and without those introductions, “cutting through the noise is very hard. Having access to someone who can say, ‘Hey, I vouch for this guy’ makes things much easier.”
Building that network was one of the advantages of Antler, Espinosa said. “It’s one of the things that Antler does very well, they democratise the system, so someone who is not from this country, who doesn’t have this network, can plug into the system.”
This article is part of a media partnership with Antler. For partnering opportunities, contact [email protected] or [email protected].
