{"id":866,"date":"2025-04-11T07:46:40","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T07:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.goldmineglobalng.com\/?p=866"},"modified":"2025-04-30T10:27:03","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T10:27:03","slug":"ai-textile-sorting-tech-company-completes-1-5m-seed-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.goldmineglobalng.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/11\/ai-textile-sorting-tech-company-completes-1-5m-seed-round\/","title":{"rendered":"AI textile sorting tech company completes \u00a31.5m seed round"},"content":{"rendered":"
Archipelago Ventures and Circular Plastics Accelerator led the seed round \u2013 the initial funding stage for a start-up \u2013 for Matoha. Other investors include Conduit Connect, British Design Fund, Fashion for Good, and angel investors.<\/span><\/p>\n Co-founder of Archipelago Ventures Lucy Mortimer is appearing at this year\u2019s Festival of Circular Economy in May<\/a>. Last week, it was announced that Circular Economy Minister Mary Creagh is giving a keynote presentation at the Festival<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hans Chan, Matoha’s CTO and Co-founder, said the investment will enable Matoha to take the technology to \u201cthe next level.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWith this investment, we can have a greater impact on processing end-of-life textiles,\u201d Chan said. \u201cThis will include improving the AI capabilities in sorting for recycling and<\/em> reuse. We are also looking at automation which is essential due to the sheer volume of textiles waste.\u201d<\/p>\n Matoha believes one of the key problems in the recycling of textiles is the identification and separation of their component fibres.<\/p>\n Each individual fibre type has a different recycling process and needs to be sent to a specific recycling plant.<\/p>\n Matoha says it has developed manually operated devices that scan and accurately identify the compositional makeup of textiles in under a second. The devices are designed to be intuitive and easy to use.<\/p>\n With this investment, we can have a greater impact on processing end-of-life textiles.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Manufactured in the UK by Matoha\u2019s in-house team, the devices range from handheld scanners that can be used on-site or in the field, to in-built desktop scanners for industrial-scale waste sorting facilities.<\/p>\n Matoha says it has raised investment to develop and extend the capability of the handheld devices.<\/p>\n The second phase of this Seed round will aim to support the automation and scaling of Matoha\u2019s technology via AI-driven robotic solutions.<\/p>\n Justin Guest, Founding Partner at Archipelago Ventures, commented: \u201cSolutions like Matoha\u2019s are critical to unlocking barriers and enabling a circular textiles economy.<\/p>\n \u201cIdentification of material types and the ability to sort textiles is key to valorisation of end-of-life textiles and fabrics.\u201d<\/p>\n Reacting to the announcement, Claire Shrewsbury, Director of Insights and Innovations at WRAP, said: \u201cMoving to a circular model of clothing is critical with a growing global population, and to counter overproduction.<\/p>\n \u201cKey is developing an automated and transformative way of sorting clothing for both fibre2fibre recycling, reuse and other applications.<\/p>\n \u201cWith Matoha, we see a cost-effective solution to this issue that will help enable more textiles to be effectively sorted and saved.”<\/p>\n The post AI textile sorting tech company completes \u00a31.5m seed round<\/a> appeared first on Circular Online<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 AI material identification scanner manufacturer Matoha, a UK-based startup that enables textile sorting, has completed the first phase of a \u00a31.5m seed round. Archipelago Ventures and Circular Plastics Accelerator led the seed round \u2013 the initial funding stage for a start-up \u2013 for Matoha. Other investors include Conduit Connect,…<\/p>\n\n
<\/a><\/p>\n