MOLG

Molg Inc. is a circular manufacturing company applying robotics, design software and traceability standards to the electronic waste problem. Its robotic microfactories autonomously disassemble complex electronic products such as laptops and servers, recovering components and materials for reuse, remanufacturing or recycling. In contrast to destructive shredding-based recycling, the company positions its high-precision, non-destructive disassembly as a way to preserve component-level value across a range of brands and product categories.

Alongside disassembly hardware, Molg offers a design-for-circularity practice and proprietary software that parametrically generates and places computable, bi-directional assembly methods into a customer's CAD model, currently delivered as a plug-in for Autodesk Fusion 360. The approach substitutes screws and adhesives with snaps, press-fits, latches and other modular connections that Molg's robots can recognize and reverse, and lets customers test and validate assembly and disassembly sequences in simulation before running them on microfactory deployments.

A third product line, OriginMark, is an open standard and tool set for device, component and material traceability. It captures sub-component-level material composition and assembly hierarchies and records relationships between components so that data such as total materials, processes and embodied carbon can be rolled up from a single unit to a building or a global asset portfolio. OriginMark is used in Molg's automated Re-X processing and is being piloted with partners.

Founding story

According to cofounder and CEO Rob Lawson-Shanks, the founders started Molg after roughly a decade in consumer electronics manufacturing, where they observed how existing design, production and recovery processes contributed to e-waste; the company was formed to shift the underlying systems supporting demanufacturing through better design and dynamic automation.

Business model

Molg sells and deploys robotic disassembly microfactories to electronics recyclers, IT asset disposition (ITAD) operators and hyperscaler facilities, and separately engages manufacturers on circular design programs delivered by its in-house mechanical, electrical, software and robotics engineering team, supported by design software and OriginMark traceability services.

Revenue is associated with microfactory deployments at customer sites and with design-for-circularity engagements covering existing product lines, R&D and new product introduction programs; OriginMark is offered as an open standard with accompanying implementation services.

Traction

Molg has installed robotic disassembly microfactories at Sims Lifecycle Services and is rolling out to ITAD facilities of leading hyperscalers. It works on circular design with companies including HP, Dell and ABB Robotics & Automation Ventures. OriginMark is in pilot with partners. One third-party profile lists 47 employees.

Latest developments

The most recent primary announcement is the October 2024 closing of a $5.5 million seed round led by Closed Loop Partners' Ventures Group with participation from Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund, ABB Robotics & Automation Ventures, Overture, Elemental Impact and Techstars, to be used primarily to scale production capacity for circular supply chain customers.