Trax

Headquartered in Singapore, Trax (which reportedly reached unicorn status in 2019) offers an AI-powered computer vision technology for retail inventory monitoring and management. Trax gathers images via its mobile apps, shelf cameras, dome cameras, and the roving robots and uses computer vision powered software to provide a range of inventory insight solutions for retailers. Trax generates inventory and shelf management related insights related to out-of-stock inventory and shelf stocking discrepancies, planogram compliance, category management, customer engagement, and price and promotion compliance. 

The technology also monitors the stores and provides real-time insights related to out of stock, pricing errors and display anomalies (e.g. if a product price doesn’t match a shelf label) and alerts staff in real time. It also generates alerts for instances where employee intervention is required. ​The company also offers online ordering fulfillment features, showing live inventory online to customers, and providing retail staff optimized picking paths in the store to gather and pack items more efficiently. As of March 2024, Trax’s systems were processing 260 million products images monthly. The company held 23 patents for its technology solutions. 

In February 2020, Trax acquired Qopius, a Europe-based company that uses AI and computer vision to create real-time store monitoring and autonomous inventory management solutions. Qopius’s hardware-agnostic computer vision platforms are designed to monitor on-shelf inventory in real time to identify out-of-stock items, compliance, inventory levels, and price integrity at scale. The platform uses advanced retail data integration and analytics to allow retailers to track shelf activity and take necessary corrective action in real time. 

The company claims that on average, it reduces out-of-stock situations by 30% and gains back 250 labor hours per store.

Key customers and partnerships

As of April 2022, Trax’s clientele included over 373 consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies and retailers. In January 2021, Trax partnered with Blue Yonder, a provider of digital supply chain and omni-channel commerce fulfillment solutions, to launch a dynamic retail workforce management solution. 

Funding and financials

Trax’s recent funding was series E funding worth USD 640 million in April 2021, led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and return investor BlackRock. The funds will be used to accelerate further product development, enter new markets internationally, and expand product use cases both organically and via potential acquisitions. In November 2023, the company secured USD 50 million in venture debt investment from Deutsche Bank Private Credit & Infrastructure to invest in the company’s signal-based merchandising solution.