RoadRunner Recycling, Inc.
Pittsburgh, US · Founded 2014 · Delaware corporation · 696 employees on LinkedIn · 13 known investors
RoadRunner provides tech-enabled waste and recycling services to businesses across all 50 U.S. states, using data and artificial intelligence to improve recycling rates and reduce costs. The company modernizes commercial waste management through software and operational expertise in the environmental services industry.
Also known as RoadRunner · RoadRunner Recycling
Founders & leadership
RoadRunner Recycling, Inc. was founded in 2014 by Graham Rihn.
Board
Investors · 13
Also in the syndicate · 3
Reported raises · per SEC filings
Form D private placements$174.3M disclosed across 6 of 7 rounds · 2014–2022
▶$50MraisedNov 2022 · 1 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- Duane WoodsDirector
- Graham RihnExecutive Officer, Director
- Michael BevanDirector
- King GohDirector
- Zuhair KhanDirector
- Joel P. AdamsDirector
- Offering amount
- $52M
- Amount sold
- $50M
- First sale
- Oct 2022
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Delaware
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
▶$64.9MraisedJan 2022 · 6 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- King GohDirector
- Zuhair KhanDirector
- Joel P. AdamsDirector
- Duane WoodsDirector
- Graham RihnExecutive Officer, Director
- Michael BevanDirector
- Offering amount
- $70M
- Amount sold
- $64.9M
- First sale
- Dec 2021
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Delaware
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
▶$38.9MraisedSep 2020 · 14 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- Duane WoodsDirector
- King GohDirector
- Joel P. AdamsDirector
- Graham RihnExecutive Officer, Director
- Daryl CroneDirector
- Offering amount
- $38.9M
- Amount sold
- $38.9M
- Finders' fees
- $1.8M
- First sale
- Feb 2020
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Delaware
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
▶$10MraisedSep 2017 · 1 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- Thomas TullDirector
- Graham RihnExecutive Officer, Director
- Duane WoodsDirector
- Joel P. AdamsDirector
- Offering amount
- $10M
- Amount sold
- $10M
- First sale
- Sep 2017
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Delaware, 2014
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
▶$8.8MraisedMar 2017 · 18 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- Joel AdamsDirector
- Duane WoodsDirector
- Graham RihnExecutive Officer, Director
- Offering amount
- $8.8M
- Amount sold
- $8.8M
- First sale
- Mar 2017
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Delaware, 2014
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
▶$1.7MraisedJun 2014 · 3 investors · OtherRule 506(b)
- Joel P AdamsDirector
- Graham RihnExecutive Officer, Director
- Offering amount
- $1.7M
- Amount sold
- $1.7M
- First sale
- Jun 2014
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Delaware, 2014
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
Source: SEC EDGAR Form D. Amounts as filed; amended filings shown once at their latest values.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026RoadRunner Recycling, Inc. is a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based provider of outsourced, fully managed commercial and industrial waste removal and recycling services. Rather than operating as a traditional hauler, the company owns no trucks, dumpsters or landfills and earns no landfill tipping fees; instead it consolidates management of waste and recycling operations across a customer's locations, oversees day-to-day vendor relationships, simplifies invoicing across portfolios, and applies data analysis to identify service optimization, cost-savings and landfill-diversion opportunities.
Core offerings include the RecycleMORE program of tailored recycling services and recycling consulting, and CleanStream recycling services intended to raise recycling rates where applicable. The company markets patented "waste intelligence" technology under the names Oversite, Waste Metering, BillCheck and Priceshield, and positions its services around a "Zero Waste" objective. Free waste audits are used as an entry point for prospective customers.
The company serves mid-market through enterprise customers across industries including bank branches, healthcare facilities, hospitality, logistics, manufacturing, multi-family housing, office buildings, property management, restaurants and retail. Third-party profiles describe the business as technology-driven waste management and recycling for businesses across sectors, with verticals spanning artificial intelligence and clean technology, and sub-industries of waste management, pollution control and recycling.
Founding story
RoadRunner Recycling was established in 2014 in Pittsburgh. Founders are identified as Graham Rihn, the company's CEO, and Ishan Mukherjee. Press coverage describes Rihn's interest in waste reduction and his conclusion, after examining problems in the U.S. waste industry, that businesses needed a better approach to waste and recycling management.
Business model
RoadRunner acts as an outsourced manager of waste and recycling operations for commercial and industrial customers, contracting with a nationwide network of preferred hauling and processing vendors rather than owning collection assets, and layering software and data analysis over vendor performance, service levels and billing. It guarantees savings against customers' existing waste costs and centralizes multi-site portfolio management and invoicing.
A third-party research profile describes RoadRunner as generating revenue from comprehensive, ongoing waste management services, primarily on a subscription model in which businesses engage the company for fully managed waste and recycling management, optimization consulting and technology integration, with consolidated invoicing across locations and pricing tailored to the specific services rendered, such as the RecycleMORE and CleanStream programs.
Traction
Company-reported cumulative impact figures include more than 4.7 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions avoided, more than 1.4 million tonnes of recyclables diverted from landfills, more than $159 million in total customer cost savings, more than 14,000 customers served across all 50 states, and more than 4,500 preferred vendor partners nationwide. A recycling program run with FIGS recycled more than 40,000 healthcare scrubs.
Latest developments
The company's press page lists 2025 coverage including a Pittsburgh Business Times feature in September 2025 in which CEO Graham Rihn discussed the use of AI to modernize waste and recycling, selection as a 2025 Top Climate Tech company by Purpose Jobs in April 2025, inclusion in Pittsburgh Business Times' 2025 Best Places to Work list in July 2025, and an RBC Capital Markets piece in November 2025 on combining a technology platform with sustainable waste services.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Positioned as an alternative to traditional haulers in commercial waste management, differentiating on technology, data and vendor-agnostic asset-light operations. The company reports serving more than 14,000 customers across all 50 states through more than 4,500 preferred vendor partners, and has been recognized in regional and sector rankings including Pittsburgh Business Times Best Places to Work, The Tech Tribune's best tech startups lists for Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh, a 2023 SEAL Business Sustainability Award, and a 2025 Top Climate Tech company designation from Purpose Jobs.
The company emphasizes that it is not a traditional hauler: it does not own trucks, dumpsters or landfills and does not benefit from landfill tipping fees, which it presents as aligning its incentives with diversion and cost reduction. Additional stated differentiators are patented technology for vendor and service oversight, centralized multi-location portfolio management and consolidated invoicing, and guaranteed savings versus a customer's current waste costs.
Technology
The company markets proprietary, patented "waste intelligence" tooling branded Oversite, Waste Metering, BillCheck and Priceshield, used for operational and vendor oversight, billing verification and pricing, plus data analytics that inform location-level service design. Press coverage and third-party profiles associate the company with artificial intelligence applied to waste and recycling processes, and with IoT-style approaches involving sensors, telematics, dashboards and utility data connections in smart waste management.
Go-to-market
Direct sales supported by a free waste audit offer as a lead-generation entry point, case studies, thought-leadership and executive commentary in trade and business media, a customer portal, and partnerships with brands on recycling programs (for example a scrubs trade-in recycling program with apparel company FIGS).
Commercial, industrial and enterprise businesses and building owners of any size, spanning bank branches, healthcare facilities, hospitality, logistics, manufacturing, multi-family housing, office buildings, property management, restaurants and retail; the company describes serving mid-level to enterprise waste services needs.
Geography
Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with services delivered to customers in all 50 U.S. states; an investor portfolio page also lists New York, New York as a location. In 2023 the company took new headquarters space at TechMill41 at The Foundry in Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville neighborhood.
History
Adams Capital Management made its initial investment in the company in 2014, the year of founding. The company was named a winner in the extra-large category of Pittsburgh Business Times' Best Places to Work in January 2022, and was recognized again in 2025. In October 2022 RoadRunner acquired Compology, a move framed as accelerating sustainable waste and recycling. A Series D round of $50 million led by Fifth Wall Ventures was reported for November 2022, and the company also announced an additional $20 million Series D investment from Climate Fund and Fifth Wall to fund core business growth, enterprise offering expansion and further technology investment. In March 2023 the company signed for new Pittsburgh headquarters at TechMill41 at The Foundry.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Competitors · 4
by search overlapCompanies competing with RoadRunner Recycling, Inc. for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
Timeline · 9
launches, deals, and filingsRoadRunner was among 85 companies named to the 2025 Best Places to Work roster.
FIGS partnered with RoadRunner to recycle more than 40,000 healthcare professionals' scrubs through a trade-in program launched in honor of Earth Month.
RoadRunner Recycling signed for new headquarters space at TechMill41 at The Foundry in Lawrenceville, Pittsburgh.
A third-party research profile reports RoadRunner secured $50 million in a Series D round led by Fifth Wall Ventures, to be used for market expansion and further technology and service development.
$50M source ↗
RoadRunner Recycling announced the acquisition of Compology, described as accelerating sustainable waste and recycling.
The company reported raising another $20 million in its Series D from Climate Fund and Fifth Wall to support core business growth, enterprise offering expansion and technology investment.
$20M source ↗
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
Legal entities · 1
corporate structureIn the news
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- RoadRunner Recycling, Inc.roadrunnerwm.com · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does RoadRunner Recycling, Inc. do?
- RoadRunner provides tech-enabled, fully managed commercial waste and recycling services to businesses across all 50 U.S. states.
- Who founded RoadRunner Recycling, Inc.?
- RoadRunner Recycling, Inc. was founded by Graham Rihn in 2014.
- Who are RoadRunner Recycling, Inc.'s investors?
- RoadRunner Recycling, Inc.'s investors include Adams Capital Management, Fifth Wall, General Atlantic, Cerity Partners Ventures, Greycroft, Playfair Capital, FJ Labs, Greycroft Partners and 2 more.
- How much funding has RoadRunner Recycling, Inc. raised?
- RoadRunner Recycling, Inc. has disclosed $174.3M raised across 6 of its 7 known rounds.
- Where is RoadRunner Recycling, Inc. headquartered?
- RoadRunner Recycling, Inc. is headquartered in Pittsburgh, US.