Sponsored

Having the bottle to make a difference

Reverse vending is a way to fight climate change one plastic bottle at a time, said Sensi founder Nathan Misischi

Dexmont Peña, Nathan Misischi and Seamus Devitt, Sensi team: ‘This is our third successive EIIS funding round, following two successful earlier rounds in 2020 and 2021,’ said Misischi

Reverse vending machines reward people for recycling by issuing cash vouchers in return for deposits of recyclables. Sensi develops Smart Reverse Vending Machines for Deposit Return Schemes. It is the only Irish provider of Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs).

Sensi’s EIIS offering includes Redeemable Preference Shares, a defined exit with a 10 per cent bonus, as we as the usual EIIS tax reliefs apply in full to qualified investors.

“This is our third successive EIIS funding round, following two successful earlier rounds in 2020 and 2021, which helped fund design, development & launch of our pre-DRS product,” said Misischi. “This EIIS round will accelerate the development of our DRS compliant product and fund the scaling of our sales and marketing team.”

“This is an ethical investment in a dynamic Irish cleantech company with an experienced team and a proven disruptive product,” Seamus Devitt, chief executive, said. “This investment will suit individuals with an interest in both regulatory and sustainability investments.”

Founded in 2019 by Nathan Misischi and Dr Dexmont Peña, the company is based in Dublin. Early investor turned chief executive is Seamus Devitt, a serial technology entrepreneur. Sensi has won multiple awards, collecting accolades from Qualcomm, Climate KIC, Circuléire, EPA Green Enterprise, PwC - NetZero Future 50, Spark Crowdfunding and Enterprise Ireland.

Government-regulated Deposit Return Schemes, where a deposit (typically 20 cent) is placed on beverage containers – for example plastic bottles and aluminium cans – are being adopted in many countries, particularly across Europe and North America, said Misischi.

“The EU Single-Use Plastics (SUP) directive requires a 90 per cent separate collection rate for plastic bottles by 2029 and the only proven way to achieve this is through a government regulated DRS.”

Ireland’s DRS will be rolled out in February 2024. This creates a clear business opportunity for Sensi, said Misischi.

As global regulations mandate the introduction of Deposit Return Schemes, this will drive increased demand for Reverse Vending Machines and Sensi’s proprietary tech enables a new disruptive Smart RVM that will shake up the traditional RVM market, he said.

“Sensi’s use of Visual AI software simplifies the hardware elements of these new machines and allows flexible use with a range of new recyclable and reusable items. In each case, a virtually uncontaminated stream of material is guaranteed.”

“We recently showcased one of the many applications of our proprietary technology, with the launch of our VYTAL integrated SRVM. The project, in partnership with Dublin City Council (DCC), will see a host of various cafés, restaurants and other business within the Clontarf area offer food and beverages in Vytal reusable containers to be returned to Sensi Smart RVMs and create a reuse revolution and help kickstart the circular economy.”

Similar projects and concepts will be rolled out nationwide in the coming months.

Misischi said that the company’s immediate focus is on winning a significant percentage of the Irish DRS market for RVMs. “Plans beyond that will focus on global markets set to introduce Deposit Return Schemes. For example, England, Wales and Northern Ireland are set to introduce their schemes from 2024.”

Low recycling rates for plastics and other beverage containers cause significant economic and environmental costs. This is prompting new regulations worldwide, aimed at increasing the global circularity rate (currently stuck at 9 per cent.) “An example of these regulations is the EU Directive requiring a separate plastics collection rate of 90 per cent by 2029,” Misischi said. “This is driving increased demand for RVMs (est CAGR 10 per cent over this decade). Use of RVMs will be a mandatory requirement for many retailers when regulations are in force.”

Sensi's solution is the world's first Smart RVM with advanced visual recognition technology. The key advantage of our Smart RVM is that our proprietary Visual AI software allows us to simplify the hardware elements of the machine, relative to our competitors, said Misischi.

“Our solution can be used for Deposit Return Schemes (DRS) and also in pre-DRS scenarios where digital rewards can be issued in place of digital refunds. Uniquely, our solution can be trained to work with many other recyclable and reusable items.”

“We estimate a total global market for RVMs in 2023 to be $450M, growing at between 7 per cent and 10 per cent CAGR over the next six years, for a total market in this period of about $3 billion. We are concentrated on the sector for multi- functional RVMs of low/medium capacity level in Europe and North America. This gives a SAM of about $1.2 billion over this period.”

Ireland's RVM market will kick off with the introduction of DRS. “Estimated market size is 1,700 RVMs for convenience stores and 900 larger RVMs for larger supermarkets, for a total market size of €70m,” Misischi said.

“We are targeting the convenience store market and as the only Irish-based manufacturer of RVMs, Sensi is uniquely positioned to win a good share of this market,” he said.

For more information on Sensi’s EIIS offering, contact: nathan@sensi.ie