Dive Brief:
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Pensa Systems, an autonomous perception technology firm, announced last week that it raised $10 million from Signia Venture Partners, ATX Venture Partners and others to further distribute its technology for retail inventory visibility.
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The company has created technology that uses computer vision, patent-pending AI and autonomous drones to "see and understand" what's on store shelves, which allows retailers to decrease stockouts, better plan their products and increase revenue, the company noted in its press release.
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Pensa has tested its technologies with multiple brands and retailers and has shown up to 40% more accuracy in spotting stockouts than industry best practice, according to the company.
Dive Insight:
Pensa Systems' technology enables retailers to track their inventory with the help of drones. The company's latest announcement, according to the release, is aimed at solving retailers' estimated $1 trillion revenue loss whenever they don't have the products consumers want.
"It is now clear that the combination of AI and vision technology will have an enormous impact on retail store operations," James McCann, one of Pensa Systems' investors who will be joining the company's board, said in a statement.
Other retailers have invested in technology for tracking merchandise throughout the supply chain. Ralph Lauren announced a digital identification system for its Polo products in November and Wakefern rolled out its tracking system to more stores this fall. Even luxury conglomerate LVMH announced the development of Aura, a platform which uses blockchain to trace products throughout their life cycles, though that platform is aimed more at authentication than shelf-stocking.
"We get really excited when we see artificial intelligence being used to shake up a big, stalwart industry — and deliver the insights needed to help it advance," ATX managing director Chris Shonk said in a statement regarding Pensa.
Small Business
via https://www.aiupnow.com
Tatiana Walk-Morris, Khareem Sudlow
