The Ventana-backed operating system serves hundreds of haulers and says its AI agent already handles inbound requests for a large share of customers.
TrashLab has raised $12 million in financing led by Ventana, with participation from existing backers Bienville Capital, Harlem Capital and CreativeCo.
The company describes the financing as growth capital, while its own announcement also uses the term Series A. Founded in 2022 by CEO Neil Chaudhary and CTO John Tan, TrashLab builds an operating system for waste collection and recycling businesses.
Modern Software for a Fragmented Industry
Waste haulers operate complex physical businesses that combine routing, customer service, fleet management, billing and collections. Many still rely on spreadsheets, paper workflows and software developed for individual parts of the operation.
TrashLab provides an integrated platform covering call-center operations, customer records, dispatch, routing, truck cameras, billing and native payments. Its AI agent, Haul-E, answers incoming calls, captures orders and supports after-hours service.
The company says nearly 80% of its customers use Haul-E and that waste haulers have managed more than five million tons of material through its platform since launch. It reports hundreds of customer operators in more than 40 states across the United States and Canada.
TrashLab also says its annual contract value has increased more than sevenfold since 2024, without disclosing the starting amount or current revenue.
Automation Beyond the Call Center
The startup plans to apply more agent-based automation to dispatch, collections and revenue intelligence. Cameras and event data can help identify operational problems, while connected billing systems can allow businesses to resolve disputes and charge for services more consistently.
For customers, the opportunity is not simply replacing administrative work. Improved scheduling, fewer missed orders and faster collections can influence profitability in a low-margin, asset-intensive industry.
But onboarding and reliability matter. Waste businesses must keep trucks on the road while changing core software, and automation errors can lead directly to missed pickups or incorrect invoices.
The $12 million funding will support product development and expansion of implementation and support teams. TrashLab's challenge is to turn early adoption into a durable system of record for a large, fragmented industry.
Sources: TrashLab · Business Wire · FreightWaves