Y Combinator is a startup accelerator that invests in a large number of startups twice a year. It created a new model for funding startups. Twice a year, the company invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups. The startup accelerator works intensively with the companies for three months, to get them into the best possible shape and refine their pitch to investors. Each cycle culminates in Demo Day when the startups present their companies to a carefully selected, invite-only audience.

Y Combinator

Novel TMT Ventures backs stellar teams building innovative products and services to improve consumer experiences and efficiencies in commerce, media and payment.

Novel TMT Ventures

Colle Capital is an opportunistic, global technology venture fund.  We focus on early stage companies that offer products and services in a broad range of verticals, such as telecommunications, computing, compliance, healthcare, wireless, financial services, security, home automation and information technology.

Colle Capital Partners

Beanstalk is an early stage venture fund with deep ties into both the retail and technology worlds because they were entrepreneurs and retail executives before they were investors.  Because of that they are comfortable investing at the ''napkin'' stage and rolling up our “shirt sleeves” to help the portfolio’s founders.  They look to partner with the next generation of retail tech entrepreneurs and aim to help them successfully design and build the product, recruit teams, raise the right capital, close sales and build effective marketing programs.  They are exclusively focused on retail technology, are the first investor in each portfolio company and they much prefer to lead the round.

Beanstalk Ventures

Pathfinder is the early stage investment vehicle of Founders Fund, a venture capital firm investing in science and technology companies solving difficult problems. The firm and its partners have been early backers of some of the most impactful companies of the past decade, including SpaceX, Palantir, Facebook and Airbnb. Founders Fund pursues a founder-friendly investment strategy, providing maximum support with minimum interference.

Pathfinder

NTT DOCOMO Ventures is the venture capital arm of NTT DOCOMO, Inc. specializing in investments in incubation, early stage, middle stage, and later/pre-IPO stage companies. It prefers to invest in the field of information technology, telecommunications, content platform services, battery power, authentication security, BigData, a solution with devices, cloud, and communication platforms. The firm invests in and outside of Japan. It seeks to invest up to about USD $2 million to USD $3 million per investment. It prefers to seek minority stakes of around 20% or less per portfolio. The firm seeks to exit its investments through sales of stocks or transfer of shares to DOCOMO and NTT Group companies. It also runs an accelerator program called DOCOMO Incubation Program. Docomo Innovation Ventures, previously known as NTT Investment Partners Inc., was established on February 20, 2008, and is based in Minato, Chiba, Japan.

NTT DOCOMO Ventures

Sound Ventures is a venture capital firm. The company seeks to invest in the technology sector.

Sound Ventures

Align Ventures is a seed-stage VC investing in emerging brands and next-gen consumer or retail technologies. The firm identifies emerging brands and consumer technologies that dramatically enhance the consumer experience, and accelerate their development through funding and alignment opportunities with the world’s top brands.

Align Ventures

J.A.S Ventures

NTT DOCOMO provides mobile telecommunication services through its W-CDMA networks in Japan.  The company offers voice, data, and other value-added services; public wireless LAN and international roaming services; and satellite cell phone services. Its products and services include Office Link, which allows mobile phones to be used as internal lines; Business Mopera Anshin Manager, which enables the unified control of corporate mobile phones; Business Plus, a package of cloud-based enterprise services; Dcreators, an online market for accessories, smartphone cases, and interior accessories; Dfashion, a fashion e-commerce site; Dkids, an educational content service for families with infants; Dtravel, a travel service that offers travel support services; and Ddelivery, a food delivery service. In addition, NTT DOCOMO provides Docomo Mail, a cloud-based email service; Docomo ID, an account identification service; machine-to-machine (M2M) services; and Petfit, which allows users to check their pet dog’s health condition or location through smartphones or other devices. Further, it offers services in various business fields, including media, finance, commerce, healthcare, M2M, aggregation, ecology, and safety. Additionally, the company operates in the medical database business as well as provides lifestyle guidance in dining and cooking areas. In addition, it purchases and sells smartphones, tablets, and data communication devices.  NTT DOCOMO was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Currently, NTT DOCOMO, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation.

NTT DoCoMo

Future Archives Unlimited, LLC

TFG has significant expertise and exposure in information technology, consumer, media, manufacturing, aerospace, business services, financial services, and real estate.

The Ferrante Group

RADAR

RADAR is an RFID and computer vision platform that automates inventory management, analytics, and check-out in physical stores. The company offers to manage inventory efficiently, through automated inventory counts, improved in-store replenishment, and instantaneous customer stock checks, measure all customer-product interactions, giving physical stores the same insight into consumer behavior and product performance as online stores; and eliminate checkout lines altogether through its autonomous checkout tool.

RADAR provides an integrated hardware and software solution powered by RFID with computer vision technology for automated inventory monitoring and autonomous checkout for retailers. The company’s technology was developed in-house, using proprietary signal processing technology and location algorithms.

Speeding up sales, cutting costs, and preparing for the future of retail—whether brick-and-mortar or online.

Retail Industry Robots

Gapwaves and Uhnder collaborate on Digital High Resolution Radar

RADAR provides an integrated hardware and software solution powered by RFID with computer vision technology for automated inventory monitoring and autonomous checkout for retailers. The company’s technology was developed in-house, using proprietary signal processing technology and location algorithms.RADAR’s inventory monitoring solution provides real-time inventory insights and can reportedly track inventory location with slight movements. It enables retailers to track customer interactions with inventory, down to item levels.&nbsp;RADAR’s software also uses computer vision and RFID to monitor customer-product interactions within the stores and maintains a virtual cart of items picked up by customers, facilitating automated checkouts.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;Key customers and partnershipsAs of August 2023, the company had implemented its platform across over 1,000 stores.

Based in France, Exotec develops an automated order picking system named “Skypod” for retailers, which is capable of prioritizing orders for optimum responsiveness by automating the movement of goods from bin storage to workstation.The company’s Deepsky software uses mathematical models to control its fleet of bin-carrying robots to ensure continuous activity. Deepsky software can be integrated with Exotec’s software and third-party automation equipment. It can also collect data for improved performance visibility. The Skypod system can be integrated with the rest of the warehouse logistics chain or used as a standalone fulfillment system.Key customers and partnershipsExotec’s retail customer partnerships include retailers such as Carrefour, Ariat, Supplyweb, Cdiscount, and Monoprix. As of April 2023, Exotec had deployed 5,000 Skypod robots.Exotec partnered with Advanced Handling Systems (AHS), a system integrator and provider of material handling and storage systems, to deploy Exotec’s solution in North America. AHS has deployed Exotec’s solutions for Ariat International, Comoto Holdings, and Gymshark.

Exotec 

Chile-based Zippedi provides autonomous mobile robots for inventory fulfillment and store management via its robot Bruno. The robot is 70 centimeters tall, weighs 30 kilos, and uses&nbsp; AI to detect insufficient inventory, incorrect price labels, and misplaced items. Bruno is equipped with high-resolution cameras and various sensors for generating real-time information.&nbsp;In July 2020, the company introduced more features to help retailers better manage their inventory by adding a mapping feature for third-party platforms enabling them to identify the specific aisle to pick up items using their app. Zippedi also allows integration with third-party platforms. In January 2023, Zippedi launched Bruno App to enable retail employees to manage Bruno using their mobile devices.Key customers and partnershipsAs of January 2023, Zippedi’s Robots were available in 200 stores across North and South America, with plans to expand deployment to Australia and Germany. Bruno was initially deployed in five supermarkets in Chile in October 2019, including Cencosud,&nbsp; Tottus, Home Center, and Walmart.In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/29105">April 2024</a>, Zippedi teamed up with supermarket chain SMU to deploy autonomous mobile robots (AMR) at Unimarc supermarkets. Zippedi planned to roll out the technology in six Unimarc stores across Chile.

Zippedi

BrainCorp is a software development company that specializes in AI systems for the autonomous robotic industry. The company develops specialized operating systems for autonomous robots, integrated with advanced machine learning and computer vision systems. The company’s pre-product work was doing R&amp;D for Qualcomm Inc. and the US Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA).&nbsp;&nbsp;Brain Corp’s key product offerings solutions include autonomous inventory management, which utilizes computer vision and RFID technology to monitor shelf inventory and generate inventory insights; “BrainOS Inventory Insights,” the company’s proprietary in-store inventory analytics solution; and inventory scanning robots to generate actionable inventory insights such as shelf-restock alerting, price tag compliance alerting, planogram compliance, and task management automation. The comapny’s solution utilizes Google Cloud's Vertex AI Vision models. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/26301">January 2024</a>, Brain Corp announced the launch of its “BrainOS InventoryAI Suite,” a suite of AI-powered inventory analytics solutions that enables retailers to integrate inventory intelligence into their operations.Brain Corp’s Floor Care solutions utilize advanced cameras and LiDAR sensors to manage fleets of floor cleaning autonomous mobile robots. Brain Corp’s technology also powers Inventory Scan, a floor-scrubber robot integrated with shelf analytics technology developed in partnership with Tennant. In January 2022, the company introduced BrainOS Mobile, which directly connects operators and managers with their BrainOS-powered robotic fleets. In September 2023, it launched <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21622">Site Maps,</a> a feature that provides visual representations of a facility's environment and insights into site operations.Key customers and partnershipsAs of March 2024, BrainCorp had over 32,000 robots subscribed to the company’s BrainOS platform across autonomous floor scrubbing, autonomous vacuuming, and autonomous inventory scanning segments. In October 2022, Sam’s Club deployed floor-scrubber robots integrated with Brain Corp’s inventory scanner technology across 600 stores.&nbsp;BrainCorp’s operating systems power 1) Whiz, an autonomous vacuum cleaner sold by Softbank robotics and ICE Robotics, 2) Inventory Scan, and 3) <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/26301">Dane AIR</a>; an autonomous inventory scanning robot developed by Dane Technologies.&nbsp;It also announced the adoption of <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10838?industryIds=17">Google Cloud</a> in May 2022 as the core technical infrastructure to manage its autonomous mobile robot (AMR) fleets to offer data integration and reporting capabilities to users. The company also has a partnership with JRTech Solutions, Canada's largest Electronic Shelf Labels (ESL) provider, to distribute BrainOS Sense Suite in Canada (<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/35635">October 2024</a>).

Brain Corp

Cosmose offers a customer analytics platform that helps in analyzing and predicting customer off-line shopping behavior. The company keeps track of the offline shopping behavior of over 1 billion people, using artificial neural networks to predict who is likely to visit a store. The platform provides insights on customers that did not make a purchase, window shoppers, and the customers that went into the fitting room (in fashion retail) but did not buy anything. Users can also connect with competitors’ customers as well to analyze their behavior. In order to protect the privacy of consumers, the company uses alphanumeric IDs named OMNIcookies which do not collect personal information. The company has offices in Europe and Asia.Key customers and partnershipsThe majority of the company’s customers are from China and Japan which includes Walmart, Marriott, Samsung, LVMH, and Shu Uemura. As of April 2023, Cosmose’s technology was used in over 20 million venues in Asia.In April 2023, Cosmose announced plans to apply Web3 principles to advance the company’s retail ecosystem as part of a strategic partnership with NEAR Foundation, a Web3 technology company.

Cosmose

Companies developing robots that offer directions, assist with queries, and provide in-store entertainment to customers while providing insights on customer behavior. 

Companies that develop autonomous cleaning and sanitation robots for use in retail floors. 

Companies developing stock counting, price tagging, and consumer data aggregation robots mainly targeted for use in supermarkets and department stores.  

Companies developing robotic technology for automated online order preparation solutions and micro-warehousing centers designed to assist SME retailers with order fulfillment.

Companies in “customer analytics” and “inventory management” often use technologies such as AI and ML

Almost all companies operating in micro fulfillment and floor cleaning segments use robotics

Companies in "customer analytics" and "inventory management" often makes use of technologies such as IoT

Compared with 4G, 5G is better suited for heavy density of professional service robots

RADAR

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