AiFi Cashierless Retail Venture Raises $15 Million To Accelerate Opening

(Photo: AiFi)

AiFi plans to open 330 more stores

The retail industry is experiencing a shift in creating a seamless shopping experience with the help of a cashierless retail experience. You might know about the cashierless Amazon Go store but they will be facing new competition from AiFi.

The Santa Clara-based cashierless retail startup, AiFi, secured a $15 million investment from existing backers and Qualcomm that doubled AiFi’s funding to $30 million. AiFi debuted the cashierless retail concept in February 2019 and has worked towards getting funding to create more AiFi locations.

Autonomous stores! The future of retail https://t.co/vYII7YcNqL

— customsocial (@cstmsocl) October 19, 2020

AiFi will be using this funding to work towards opening 330 stores in the United States, Australia, and Europe. AiFi opened its first store in Shanghai earlier this year that was used for testing purposes.

The AiFi stores work on the Oasis platform utilizing cameras around the store with the system trained to recognize hundreds of products with 99% accuracy within 3 months of opening. The platform automatically keeps track of inventory, provides real-time store operations data, and identifies misplaced items.

After Amazon Go launched its cashierless store, a majority of retailers raced at the chance to compete in this unique retail market. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has created a bigger demand for more contactless shopping options.

According to a report by ABC, the use of contactless features for banks has increased 150% since March and is expected to increase as more businesses implement contactless features. Standard Cognition and Grabngo businesses have recently announced the launch of “no-line” payment options in convenient stores and supermarkets.