Following an introduction to her future co-founder Areeb Malik, a former Meta software and AI engineer who was equally enamored with trash, Rebecca found herself on a path from which there was no turning back. Someone had to build the tools to revolutionize recycling and power the circular economy—the market needed it, the planet needed it, and the technology required to enable it had just emerged. A shared mission to end waste heralded the start of a remarkable company: Glacier.

It wasn’t long before Rebecca and Areeb caught the attention of Ann Bordetsky, an NEA partner with a growing focus on AI, a longtime passion for climate tech, and experience in building category creating companies. Glacier was pioneering a novel AI and robotics system that would transform the recycling industry (an $80B+ market) with automation and intelligence, solving acute labor shortages while creating first-of-its-kind data to measure and understand what products, brands and materials move through the system. Impact happens at scale and Glacier had cracked the code for a scalable solution. Her conviction grew rapidly as she got to know the founders and their vision, prompting NEA to lead Glacier’s Seed round in 2022 and alongside Amazon’s Climate Fund in 2024. As Glacier continues to accelerate and transform the waste and materials industry, we are thrilled to participate in the Series A financing and continue to support Glacier on their mission to end waste.

Ann recently caught up with Rebecca to discuss why brands are doubling down on the circular economy, how Glacier is helping to close the gap between "recyclable" and "recycled" materials, and the surprisingly big opportunity where trash meets technology.