A female-led waste management platform from California has raised $8M to scale an innovative approach to the refuse problems of U.S. businesses

Trash Warrior, founded by its CEO Lily Shen and the only tech-enabled full-service waste management platform in the U.S., secured $8 million in a pre-A investment round led by AltaIR Capital.

Amino Capital, Operator Partners, Vermilion Ventures, and Hyphen Capital also took part in the round, as did previous investors Primavera Capital, Sand Hill Angels, Lombard Street Ventures, and 500 Startups. Trash Warrior graduated from the Spring 2020 batch of 500 Startups.

A female-led waste management platform has raised $8M

Trash Warrior provides a completely new business approach to B2B waste management in the U.S. market. After booking a waste management request on trashwarrior.com, any business can have their waste headaches resolved in a matter of hours rather than days. This on-demand, high-volume national platform brings tech-enabled waste management to customers ‘ fingertips. It eliminates the need for calls, layers of brokers, back and forth negotiations, and covers every manner of waste needs. Trash Warrior’s mission is to boost the US national recycling rate from 35% to 75%, making the U.S. cleaner and greener.

Igor Ryabenkiy, CEO and GP of AltaIR Capital  commented: “Although the U.S. waste management market is constantly growing, it continues to use mostly traditional tools and methods. Trash Warrior invented an innovative approach to solving market problems, thus ensuring the company ‘s rapid growth.”

Trash Warrior is a managed platform that offers waste removal and dumpster rental services to all B2B customers, with the possibility of highly customized enterprise solutions for nationwide clients. Just like Uber, Trash Warrior’s two-sided marketplace matches client needs with the waste providers best positioned to satisfy them, taking availability, sustainability requirements, and pricing into account.

The company plans to use its new funds to improve technology, hire the best talents, and strengthen sales and marketing. Lily Shen: “Our main plans are to obtain more enterprise B2B customers, and deepen product features focusing on sustainability and data transparency features. With the new funding round, we hope to build and utilize a very detailed database on waste diversion, for each waste stream and every zip code in the U.S.”

The company achieved $10M in annualized GMV earlier this year and has had a high LTV since launching. Since its launch in Q4 2019, the company’s GMV has been growing 8x year-over-year. Among clients are well-known companies such as Amazon, Instacart, Imperfect Foods, Weee!, Tuft & Needle, Holiday Inn, Hyatt, Hilton, and others.

Founded in San Francisco three years ago, the innovative company now provides enterprise customers with full-service waste management across the U.S. The data-driven startup offers clients upfront and competitive pricing. With each new job completed, Trash Warrior learns more about pricing and waste diversion solutions from the extensive provider market, enabling it to further improve its offering for subsequent jobs.

About AltaIR Capital

AltaIR Capital is an international investment company founded by Igor Ryabenkiy. The company invested in more than 300 tech companies and is active in Future of Work, FinTech, InsureTech, and Digital Health. The company is the second most active venture capital company in Israel (PitchBook, 2022).

Contact:
Daniya Shumilkina
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