Trigo, a Tel Aviv-based startup developing technology for cash-free payment in retail stores, has raised $100 million in a new equity financing round.
Singapore investment firm Temasek and 83North (also invested in Holidu and Podimo) led the investment with participation from new strategic investors SAP SE and existing investors Hetz Ventures, Red Dot Capital Partners, Vertex Ventures, Viola, and supermarket giant REWE Group.
How will the funding be used?
The company plans to use the funds to execute the significant deployment of stores, increase the size of stores supported to include full-sized urban supermarkets, expand into new geographies, and further develop its StoreOS offering.
Michael Gabay, Trigo co-founder and CEO says, “We have proven that we can deploy computer vision and AI to empower physical stores with the same kinds of insights and capabilities that e-commerce stores have. This investment allows Trigo to execute its expansion plan and mature our product to support the evolving needs of our customers.”
Automates grocery stores check out
Founded by Michael Gabay and Daniel Gabay, Trigo powers grocery stores with touch-free checkout and digitised operations.
The company transforms existing supermarkets into fully autonomous digital stores where feeds from ceiling-mounted cameras and shelf sensors are analysed to generate a “digital twin” of the store.
Computer vision algorithms, similar to the ones on driverless cars, log interactions between humans and merchandise.
For example, shoppers can walk into stores, select their items off the shelves, and leave without queueing at checkout or scanning any goods.
Payments and receipts are settled digitally.
The Israeli company will also offer retailers access to additional applications through its StoreOS store operating system, with which they can track inventory in real-time, minimise out-of-stock and expired items for in-store and online shopping, mitigate fraud, personalise marketing, and manage store and supply chain operations predictively.
Currently, the company’s solutions are deployed with some of the grocery retailers, including Tesco PLC in the UK, ALDI Nord in The Netherlands, REWE Group in Berlin and Cologne, Netto Marken-Discount (also known as Netto) in Munich, Israel’s Shufersal (SAE), and Wakefern Food Corp.
Joern Keller, EVP and Head of SAP S/4HANA Industry Cloud at SAP SE, says, “Trigo’s superior computer vision technology built the infrastructure for grab-and-go shopping and laid the foundation for additional in-store scenarios of the future. As a leading provider of enterprise software for the retail industry, SAP is delighted to join as a strategic investor to support the development of the StoreOS autonomous supermarket operating system.”