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Trigo Vision

Trigo Vision Raises $22M A Round for Cashierless Checkout Tech

Trigo Vision, the Israeli startup that builds cashierless checkout tech for retailers, announced today that it has raised a $22 million A round of funding. The round was led by Red Dot Capital with the participation from existing investors Vertex Ventures Israel and Hetz Ventures. This brings the total amount raised by Trigo to $29 million.

Trigo retrofits supermarkets with cameras and computer vision to create a line-free checkout, Amazon Go like shopping experience. The company has a partnership with Israel’s largest grocer, Shufersal, which will use Trigo’s technology in all of its 280 stores. It has also been reported that Trigo is also working with UK-based grocer, Tesco. Trigo says that its technology is currently installed in stores as large as 5,000 square feet (the largest Amazon Go store is 2,100 sq. feet).

Funding wasn’t the only news from Trigo today. The company has a new name, well, a shortened one anyway. The company announced it was lopping off “Vision” from its name and going by just Trigo.

This has been a pivotal year for cashierless checkout startups, many of which have received sizable rounds of funding. Since January:

Of these however, only Trigo, Zippin and Grabango have publicly named their retail partners: Shufersal, Ame Go and Giant Eagle, respectively. Being able to publicly announce customer names is almost as important as the money being raised at this point because it shows the retailer is willing to go on record about a specific technology solution. Once a retailer has committed with a particular cashierless solution, it’s less likely they will it out and replace it with something else.

With Reported Tesco Partnership, is Trigo Vision Pulling Ahead of the Cashierless Checkout Pack?

Tesco, the U.K.’s largest grocery store chain, is reportedly testing out cashierless checkout using technology from Israeli startup, Trigo Vision. Bloomberg was first to report the as-yet-not-confirmed news, and framed its story as Tesco going up against Amazon and its Go stores. Which is accurate, but I think the bigger story, again if true, is about Trigo Vision gaining traction in the market.

Similar to the setup at Amazon Go stores, Tel-Aviv-based Trigo Vision installs high-tech cameras and artificial intelligence in existing grocery stores to automatically track what people purchase. Shoppers scan an app on their phone upon walking in, grab what they want and leave, getting charged automatically upon exit. Last August, Trigo Vision told The Spoon it had a pilot program with an unnamed European store, and was aiming to to open a full store in Europe by August of this year. Knowing that, word about a quiet partnership with Tesco getting leaked to the press now would make sense.

If the Bloomberg story is true, this would be the second major grocery chain partnership for Trigo Vision. In November of last year, Shufersal, Israel’s largest grocery chain, announced it would be rolling out Trigo Vision’s tech to its 272 store locations over this year. You can actually see Trigo Vision in action at a Shufersal in this video from an Israeli news broadcast:

As we’ve covered before, there are a raft of startups all vying to help supermarkets move to cashierless checkout. But Trigo Vision is the only one to have named at least one partner publicly. Others, such as Grabango, Caper, AWM Smart Shelf, Zippin and Standard Cognition are all in tests with retailers, but those retailers are still unnamed.

Again, the Bloomberg story still needs to be confirmed (we’ve reached out to Trigo Vision for comment), but perception can play a big part in vendor selection. As Trung Nguyen, VP of eCommerce for Albertsons explained at our recent Articulate food automation summit, grocery retailers aren’t just looking for cool new tech; they need a solution that can work at scale. If Trigo Vision’s name keeps coming up in headlines as a proven technology partner, then Trigo Vision will become the perceived leader of the cashierless checkout pack. This perception can then lead to more deals and that dominance can perpetuate itself.

Now, it’s still very early days in the cashierless checkout space, and Trigo Vision’s long-term success over other vendors is far from guaranteed. As noted, there are a lot of players with different takes on the tech and there are a lot of grocery stores in the world. And while Amazon and Walmart are developing their own cashierless checkout solutions, the sheer scale of their overall businesses could be a threat to the very existence of other retailers.

Tesco, it seems though, is ready to put up a fight.

Here is a List of Cashierless Tech Companies Gunning for Amazon Go

Bloomberg has a story up today about the Portugal-based startup, Sensei, titled “Amazon Go Faces Unlikely Challenge From Checkout-Free Startup.” The headline caught my eye because it isn’t unlikely at all, in fact, it’s quite likely. While Amazon has a substantial headstart in getting cashierless stores to market (10 and counting), Bezos’ behemoth faces all kinds of technological challenges from companies big and small in the checkout-free space.

As a quick refresher, cashierless checkout stores are retail environments that allow the shopper to walk in, grab what they want and leave without standing in a checkout line. Some combination of high-tech sensors and cameras keep track of what you buy and charge you automatically. Different companies have different approaches, some of them more advanced than others, but here’s who’s out there right now:

Caper: Rather than installing cameras and sensors in the store, Caper shifts that technology to its smart shopping carts, so retailers don’t have to spend a lot of money to retrofit their locations. Current versions of the cart require the user to scan items, but they’ve said computer vision is coming to make recording what you put in your cart automatic. Caper has raised $3 million raised and says it is in use by two major unnamed grocery store chains.

DeepMagic: Rather than scaling up, DeepMind scales down to create unattended kiosk shopping experiences that are meant to live inside existing locations (think: Hotel or office lobbies). Even these mini, mini shopping stores will face off against Amazon, as the company is reportedly looking to shrink Go stores to fit inside offices to feed hungry workers. DeepMagic is self-funded and has been used by Cisco to sell swag at one of its conferences.

Grabango: A relative newcomer to the cashierless space, Granbango came out of stealth earlier this year. It uses lots of tiny smartphone camera-sized cameras mounted on the ceiling to saturate its computer vision field and keep track of purchases. Grabango’s hook is that it integrates with the store checkout system, so when shoppers are done, they can still pay with a credit card or cash without a cashier scanning each item. Grabango has raised $17.3 million and says it is in pilots with three major grocers and one convenience store chain.

Microsoft: Microsoft isn’t one to let a cross-town rival like Amazon dominate a market without putting up a fight. But right now we’ve only heard reports of the Redmond giant working on cashierless tech with Walmart (another Amazon rival). Another clue that Microsoft cashierless tech could be forthcoming is its recent partnership with Kroger to pilot a new type of tech-forward, smart stores.

Sam’s Club: The Walmart-owned Sam’s Club opened up an experimental store last year, which requires the use of Walmart’s Scan & Go app to pay for items.

Skip: Similar to Sam’s Club approach, Skip is another small entrant in the cashierless space that is targeting convenience stores. Shoppers download and use the Skip app to scan and purchase items in the store. Skip is currently iN use in several western convenience store chains and has raised $5 million in seed funding.

Standard Cognition: While Standard Cognition has its own working store in San Francisco, it’s mainly there to showcase its cashierless chops. Standard Cognition’s website makes a big deal about it not using facial recognition and being built around privacy. The company has raised $51 million in funding and says it has agreements with four retailers across Asia, North America and Europe.

Trigo Vision: Israel-based Trigo Vision retrofits existing stores with off-the-shelf cameras and computer vision to create its cashierless experience. The company has raised $7 million, is in a pilot with an unnamed European retailer and last November signed a deal with Israel’s Shufersal to implement checkout free shopping across all of that chain’s 272 locations.

V7 (formerly AI Poly): We haven’t covered this company fully here at The Spoon yet. AI Poly recently rebranded its retail efforts as V7, and now uses AI Poly for vision AI for the visually impaired and blind. The V7 website says its AI system can plug into and work with existing security cameras, depending on the number a store operates.

7-11: The convenience store chain’s tech works more like a self-checkout than true grab-and-go retail. In the pilot store the company launched towards the end of last year, shoppers use the 7-11 app to scan items and then manually pay for them at separate checkout stations.

And now we can add Sensei to this list. Are there any others we’re leaving out? Any stealthy ones you want to spill the beans on? If so, drop us a line and let us know!

Amazon Opens Second Go Store Amid Rising Cashierless Competition

Amazon is opening is second Go store in downtown Seattle this morning. The new Go will be slightly bigger smaller (UPDATE: initial reporting on the second location was incorrect. Turns out the store is smaller.)than the first location, and will feature the same cashierless. technology that allows customers with the Amazon Go mobile app to walk into the store, grab what they want and leave without having to wait in line or stop to pay.

We loved shopping at Amazon Go and even named the store as one of our FoodTech 25 companies that are changing the way we eat. The seamless experience points to an inevitable future where high-tech cameras, sensors and computer vision all work together to make every grocery trip faster and checkout line free.

While Amazon would still be considered the leader in cashierless shopping, the landscape for the technology is more crowded since the first Go store launched in January. Cross-town rival Microsoft is reportedly working on such technology and chatting with Walmart about putting it to use in the retail giant’s stores.

Then there are smaller startups coming to market hoping to disrupt Amazon’s disruption. Zippin just unveiled its cashierless software platform and is set to open up in San Francisco next month. Israel-based Trigo Vision is piloting its software, which the company said can already scale to a full-size grocery store. Others such as Caper and AI Poly are also launching their own solutions.

Cashierless checkout certainly isn’t a zero sum game. There are plenty of retailers in the world looking to create a more efficient (and profitable) buying experience for customers. But for the time being, Amazon is definitely the pioneer. Its first-mover status gives it plenty of data and real-world experience to iterate faster than its competition.

In addition to the two Seattle locations open now, Amazon is opening up new Go stores in San Francisco and Chicago. And, lest we forget, Amazon owns Whole Foods, giving the company access to a network of full-sized retail locations in which to experiment and scale.

For those in Seattle who want to shop at the new Go store, you can find new the Seattle Central Library at 920 Fifth Ave.

Trigo Vision’s Cashierless Tech Isn’t Just for Shoppers; It Provides Insight for Stores, Too

When we talk about Amazon Go-like cashierless stores, the conversation mostly focuses on the shopping experience from the customer’s perspective. The ease with which you can walk into a store, grab what you want — and just walk out. But as Israeli-based startup Trigo Vision points out, there are plenty of benefits for the retailer as well.

Trigo Vision (pronounced tree-go vision) is one of several companies using computer vision and AI to help retail stores re-create the Amazon Go cashierless experience. Trigo Vision works by installing cameras in the ceilings of stores, and the AI is trained by having people (customers or employees, if need be) pick up and handle each item off the shelf in the store so the computer can “see” and learn what it is.

Jenya Beilin, COO of Trigo Vision, told me that using this approach for data collection is better than using synthetic data or existing images of products, because it trains the AI to recognize items under all the existing lighting and background conditions in that store. The result, according to Beilin, is that the technology is able to track purchases with greater accuracy.

The most obvious beneficiary of this computer recognition is the consumer. Trigo Vision’s system sees what you are putting in your cart (and putting back), tallies up your total and automatically charges you on the way out the door.

The same cameras that make it easy to leave also make it easy to track shoppers through the store. The result is that Trigo Vision’s system can provide retailers with useful information on consumer behavior: Where do they buy first? What items are they picking (and returning)? What items are purchased together? Etc.

One obvious benefit of Trigo Vision’s system is inventory management. Sorry, shelf-bot, but your days of manually scanning the aisles looking for gaps in inventory are probably numbered. Trigo’s platform can keep track of how many items are bought and when something needs to be re-stocked.

Digging into the consumer data a little deeper, stores can use the platform to understand how they can better present items to customers. Trigo Vision can help a store realize (in real-time) if a particular product is popular and should be highlighted, or if an end-cap promotion is attracting attention and/or sales.

This type of data is, in turn, helpful for CPG companies. For example, Coca-Cola could gain insight into whether people are buying more sodas in the aisle or at the checkout line. Armed with this data, grocers can even re-architect their shelves and store layout to take advantage of how people are shopping and the order in which they see inventory.

Unlike the bodega-sized Amazon Go stores, Trigo Vision says its platform can scale up to full-sized stores. Right now, the company, which has raised $7 million in funding, is in one pilot program with an unnamed European store. Beilin says they are in talks with more retailers, with the goal of opening in a full store in Europe within twelve months.

Trigo Vision is facing some stiff competition, however. Standard Cognition announced a deal with Paltac Corporation to put its cashierless tech in 3,000 stores in Japan before the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. AIPoly also touts its data insights for retailers as well. And in June it was revealed that Microsoft, which is no slouch when it comes to AI, is working on similar technology and is talking to retailers like Walmart about a potential collaboration.

All of this activity means widespread adoption of cashierless technology is not that far off —and will soon be so commonplace that we won’t even be talking about it at all.