What Safi does

Safi Technologies Limited (formerly TrueCircle, rebranded May 2023) is a London-based AI software company that sells computer-vision quality-control software to industrial recyclers of PET, HDPE, and Used Beverage Cans (UBC). The core product, the Safi AI Platform, analyzes iPhone photographs of incoming bales and produces a composition breakdown in approximately 3 seconds per bale, eliminating manual bale-break sampling and providing 100% load coverage versus the industry baseline of <10%. Safi's computer vision models are proprietary — not built on OpenAI or any third-party model — and are trained on thousands of tons of recycling material sourced from 25+ countries across Europe, LATAM, North America, the Middle East, and Africa, with continuous retraining on per-customer data and a human feedback loop. The platform is structured around three operational modules: Site Quality Control (standardized QC for any staff member, with reported savings of >$200k p.a.), Production Planning (real-time inventory, bale picking for yield targets, reported +3% yield worth >$500k p.a.), and Procurement Analytics (supplier performance and benchmarking, reported +1% improvement worth >$500k p.a.). Validated accuracy of <3% deviation versus manual sampling has been confirmed by N+P Group and leading European MRFs.

The company runs a sales-led enterprise GTM motion, combining a paid onboarding/pilot phase (2 weeks to 3 months) with 12-month subscription contracts whose pricing is custom-quoted based on site volume, material mix, and operational setup. Safi serves 80+ recycling sites globally with named enterprise customers including N+P Group (Netherlands, 550,000 tons/year), BMP Recycling / Blue Mountain Plastics (Canada), Aloxe Group (Italy, 30,000 t PET/year), Ice River Sustainable Solutions (Canada), Steinbeis PolyVert (Europe), Ecoiberia (Portugal), and a partnership with UPM (paper recycling). Revenue is generated through subscription platform licensing plus professional onboarding services. To date the company has raised approximately $25M across a pre-seed (Oct 2021), a $5.5M seed led by Lowercarbon Capital (March 2022), and a $19.5M Series A led by Nosara Capital with Interplay, Lowercarbon Capital, and Transition (November 2023).

Name

Safi

Legal name

Safi Technologies Limited

Website

https://safi.co

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Safi is a London-based AI company that sells computer-vision quality-control software to industrial PET, HDPE, and UBC recyclers, converting iPhone photos of bales into composition data in 3 seconds and serving 80+ recycling sites across 25+ countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Subscription (Platform License): Monthly subscription model following initial onboarding contract. Pricing is customized based on operation volume. The company starts with a billed set-up period (2 weeks to 3 months), then moves to 12-month subscription contracts.
2. Onboarding/Implementation Services: Initial billed set-up period where Safi team works with customers on-site or remotely to integrate Safi into QC workflow, calibrate the AI to specific material, and validate accuracy against existing methods.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Safi provides an AI-powered quality control platform for PET, HDPE, and Used Beverage Can (UBC) recyclers. Using proprietary computer vision models accessed via a standard iPhone, the platform analyzes bale composition in 3 seconds per photo without requiring additional hardware, conveyors, or sorting equipment. It delivers real-time composition data, supplier scorecards, yield optimization, and contamination alerts across the recycling value chain.

Product overview

Safi offers a unified AI-powered quality control platform (not a modular platform-plus-packages architecture). The core product is the Safi AI Platform, which analyzes PET, HDPE, and Used Beverage Can (UBC) bales via iPhone photography, delivering instant composition data without bale breaking. This core platform is accessed through three integrated solution modules: Site Quality Control (standardized QC for any staff member), Production Planning (yield optimization with real-time inventory and bale picking), and Procurement Analytics (supplier performance management). The platform handles three specific material streams—PET bales (30+ categories), HDPE bales (10+ categories), and UBC—providing composition analysis, contamination detection, and real-time quality reporting across the entire recycling operation. The product operates on a subscription model following an initial paid onboarding/pilot phase.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Safi AI Platform Unified AI-powered quality control platform for PET, HDPE, and UBC recyclers that analyzes incoming material bales via iPhone photography, delivering instant composition data without bale breaking. Achieves less than 3% deviation from manual sampling with 3-second per-bale analysis speed and covers 100% of loads. Used by enterprise recycling facilities globally to standardize QC, optimize production yields, and run data-driven procurement.

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature9 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• TrueCircle (Rebranded to Safi)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2023TrueCircle announced a company rebranding to Safi in May 2023, reflecting the company's focused mission on making recycling systems more efficient through AI-powered quality control.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• TOMRA: Global sensor-based sorting and recycling technology incumbent serving MRFs, PET recyclers, and UBC processors. Competes broadly with Safi via integrated sensor sortation, increasingly adding AI/analytics capabilities.
• ZenRobotics: Finnish AI-powered robotic sorting systems for waste and recycling. Competes with Safi via integrated robotic sortation with embedded computer vision at the picking line.
• Bulk Handling Systems (BHS): US-based recycling equipment and systems integrator with sorting and MRF solutions. Broad incumbent serving similar recycling facility customers as Safi.
• Machinex: Canadian recycling equipment manufacturer offering sorting systems and material recovery facility solutions. Competes with Safi as a broader systems vendor to MRFs and recyclers globally.
• Pellenc ST: French sensor-based optical sorting manufacturer for waste and recycling. Sells into the same MRF and recycling facility customers as Safi and could embed competing AI QC analytics.

Emerging players

• Recycleye: London-based AI waste analytics startup providing computer vision for material characterization at MRFs. Direct emerging competitor with overlapping European customer base.
• Waste Robotics: Canadian AI and robotics company focused on recycling sorting optimization. Emerging direct competitor in computer-vision-based recycling quality control, particularly in North America.

Direct peers

• Greyparrot: UK-based AI waste analytics company applying computer vision to sorting lines and material recovery facilities. Directly competes with Safi in AI-powered composition analysis for recyclers and MRFs.
• AMP Robotics: US-based AI and robotics company for material recovery, using computer vision to identify and sort recyclables. Closest direct competitor to Safi in computer-vision-based recycling quality control.
• EverestLabs: AI recycling analytics platform that uses vision systems to recover high-value materials from recycling streams. Direct competitor in the AI-for-recyclers space with overlapping buyer personas at MRFs and PET/HDPE processors.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors8 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Safi