The recent funding will allow AiFi to develop its autonomous store platform, Oasis, to speed up retailer implementation, Steve Gu, AiFi’s co-founder and CEO, said in a statement. For the venture capital firms, the investment in AiFi stemmed in part from the growing demand for contactless shopping, Carlos Kokron, vice president of Qualcomm Technologies and managing director of Americas at Qualcomm Ventures, said.
While demand appeared to increase during the COVID-19 pandemic, retailers and investors had been putting resources behind contactless and cashierless technologies even prior to that. Zippin raised $12 million in Series A funding in December 2019 to roll out cashierless checkout technologies to grocery stores, airports, sports facilities and other retailers.
In early February, 7-Eleven tested out its own cashierless store in Texas, signaling a potential shift in its convenience store operations. Standard, which raised $35 million last year and acquired Checkout Technologies in May, recently turned a c-store at the University of Houston into a checkout-free retail store in collaboration with the university and its dining service provider.
Source: Retail Dive
Omni Talk is the retail blog for retailers, written by retailers. Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga founded Omni Talk in 2017 and have quickly turned it into one of the fastest growing blogs in retail. 