Trigo, a computer-vision company providing checkout-free systems to grocery retailers, announced today that it raised $22 million in an A-Round of financing. The round was led by growth fund Red Dot Capital with the participation of existing investors Vertex Ventures Israel and Hetz Ventures. The funds will enable the company to scale the technology for even larger store sizes (currently at 2X the footprint of Amazon Go), and advance its partnerships with leading US and European grocery retailers. Trigo is currently installed in stores as large as 5,000 square feet, the largest checkout-free stores in the world.
Trigo is already partnering with a number of global grocery chains including leading European chains and Israel’s largest grocer – Shufersal, which will be deploying Trigo’s technology in 280 stores over the next 5 years. Trigo has raised $29M in total funding to date.
Trigo’s computer-vision system uses advanced AI and algorithms to identify and record items grabbed by shoppers while they are in the store. The company’s unique 3D space-mapping technology can be retrofitted into existing stores and enables consumers to spend their shopping time simply picking up the items they need – not waiting in long checkout lines and avoiding any kind of scanning activity altogether. Shoppers can be billed automatically or may pay cash or card.
Trigo’s system allows shoppers to personalize their in-store experience by giving them the option upon arriving at the store to either “opt in” by identifying themselves via a loyalty program, effectively allowing the retailer to gain insights on their purchases; or “opt out” by choosing not to check-in and having an “unidentified experience”. Shoppers will still enjoy the same benefits of the checkout-free experience either way.
“There is very strong demand globally among grocery retailers to dramatically improve customer experience,” said Michael Gabay, co-founder and CEO of Trigo. “The common denominator is that everyone is searching for technology to enable the most seamless in-and-out shopping experience. These new funds will be used to scale our technology further and support our global expansion.”
“We believe that Trigo’s world-leading computer-vision team will be the first to scale this technology globally and unlock the full potential of a true grocery-wide revolution,” said Barak Salomon, Managing Partner of Red Dot Capital. “The process of manually scanning barcodes for each separate item at checkout is outdated and time consuming. Trigo’s technology is going to save brick and mortar, revitalizing the in-store experience while keeping the best part of shopping alive.”
