Trash Warrior, a startup that matches businesses with waste haulers, has raised $8 million in pre-series A funding. Tell Axios.
why it matters: E-commerce and other consumer goods companies generate tons of waste from packaging. New businesses such as Trash Warrior have emerged to address this issue.
Usage: Trash Warrior’s customers include Amazon warehouses, military contractor Instacart, and eco-diaper startup EarthBaby.
- Customers use the company’s software to book garbage haulage services from a network of local providers at pre-set rates. Trash Warrior, like on-demand services like TaskRabbit, takes a portion of the revenue. Trash Warrior says it’s filling a gap left by tighter contracts with large waste disposal companies.
- Trash Warrior runs a pilot program in Philadelphia. It uses data gathered from a network of carriers about the capacity of waste disposal sites to recommend waste disposal sites.
- Not all facilities can handle large amounts of recyclable or compostable materials. Trash Warrior wants to prove that the Philadelphia pilot can improve the overall speed at which waste is sent to the proper facility.
detail: AltaIR Capital led a majority stake round and won a board seat as part of Trash Warrior’s $42 million valuation transaction.
Zoom out: Waste Management, Republic Services, and Waste Connections are the three largest waste management companies in the United States, with a combined market capitalization of approximately $1.45 trillion.
- Local providers (small family businesses or carrier-operated) often fill the gap when Craigslist advertising for junk removal on corporate sites is outside the scope of the larger companies’ enterprise contracts.
- Trash Warrior CEO Lily Shen said Amazon has a large enterprise deal with Waste Management but wants more flexible waste removal options that can better adjust based on unpredictable truck delivery schedules. said he was looking for
