{"id":26501,"date":"2024-10-09T23:30:08","date_gmt":"2024-10-09T23:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/108045659"},"modified":"2024-10-09T23:30:08","modified_gmt":"2024-10-09T23:30:08","slug":"amazon-cashierless-tech-competitor-grabango-shutters-after-failing-to-secure-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.worldtechguide.net\/amazon-cashierless-tech-competitor-grabango-shutters-after-failing-to-secure-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon cashierless tech competitor Grabango shutters after failing to secure funding"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"HighlightShare-hidden\"><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbed\" id=\"ArticleBody-InlineImage-106225055\" data-test=\"InlineImage\">\n<div class=\"InlineImage-wrapper\">\n<div>\n<p>Grabango&#8217;s mobile app<\/p>\n<p>Grabango<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>Grabango, a venture-backed startup that was vying to take on <span class=\"QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer\" data-test=\"QuoteInBody\" id=\"RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-1\"><span class=\"waslinkname\">Amazon<\/span><span class=\"QuoteInBody-inlineButton\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer\" id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\" data-analytics-id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\"><button class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistButton\" aria-label=\"Add To Watchlist\" data-testid=\"dropdown-btn\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag\"><\/span><\/button><\/span><\/span><\/span> in cashierless checkout technology, is shutting down after it was unable to raise enough money to stay afloat.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Although the company established itself as a leader in checkout-free technology, it was not able to secure the funding it needed to continue providing service to its clients,&#8221; a spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC on Wednesday. &#8220;The company would like to thank its employees, investors, and clients for all their hard work and dedication.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Food tech publication <span class=\"waslinkname\">The Spoon<\/span> reported earlier on Grabango&#8217;s closure.<\/p>\n<p>Launched in 2016, Grabango was developing checkout-free technology that uses computer vision and machine learning to track and tally up items as shoppers grab them from store shelves. Will Glaser, Grabango&#8217;s founder and CEO, is a longtime Bay Area technologist who cofounded music streaming service Pandora.<\/p>\n<p>The company employed roughly 100 employees, <span class=\"waslinkname\">according to LinkedIn<\/span> and Pitchbook.<\/p>\n<p>Grabango raised just over $73 million, Pitchbook data shows, with its most sizable financing round coming in 2021, before the market turned. In June of that year, <span class=\"waslinkname\">Grabango raised $39 million<\/span> in a round led by Commerce Ventures, with participation from Peter Thiel&#8217;s Founders Fund as well as the venture arms of <span class=\"QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer\" data-test=\"QuoteInBody\" id=\"RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-5\"><span class=\"waslinkname\">Unilever<\/span><span class=\"QuoteInBody-inlineButton\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer\" id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\" data-analytics-id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\"><button class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistButton\" aria-label=\"Add To Watchlist\" data-testid=\"dropdown-btn\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag\"><\/span><\/button><\/span><\/span><\/span> and <span class=\"QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer\" data-test=\"QuoteInBody\" id=\"RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-6\"><span class=\"waslinkname\">Honeywell<\/span><span class=\"QuoteInBody-inlineButton\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer\" id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\" data-analytics-id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\"><button class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistButton\" aria-label=\"Add To Watchlist\" data-testid=\"dropdown-btn\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag\"><\/span><\/button><\/span><\/span><\/span>. <\/p>\n<p>In February of this year, Glaser told <span class=\"waslinkname\">Axios<\/span> the company had plans to go public &#8220;in a couple of years at a $10 billion to $15 billion market cap.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The IPO market has dried up since early 2022, with just three <span class=\"waslinkname\">notable venture-backed companies<\/span> debuting in the U.S. this year. The lack of liquidity has hammered the venture industry, making it harder for firms to launch new funds and for startups, outside of a select few AI companies, to raise capital. <\/p>\n<p>Based in Berkeley, California, Grabango was seen as one of the primary rivals to Amazon&#8217;s cashierless checkout offering, called Just Walk Out. Other startups in the space include AiFi and Trigo.<\/p>\n<p>Grabango had inked deals with grocers including Aldi and Giant Eagle, along with convenience store chains 7-Eleven and Circle K. Amazon <span class=\"waslinkname\">has targeted its<\/span> Just Walk Out service to convenience stores and retailers in airports, stadiums and hospitals, among other venues.<\/p>\n<p>Amazon <span class=\"waslinkname\">in April<\/span> pulled its cashierless checkout technology from its U.S. Fresh stores and Whole Foods supermarkets. In <span class=\"waslinkname\">a blog post<\/span> following that decision, Glaser said Amazon&#8217;s reliance on shelf sensor technology in its JWO system had &#8220;proven to be its Achilles&#8217; heel.&#8221; Glaser said Grabango eschewed shelf sensors in favor of computer vision which put it on a path for &#8220;widespread adoption.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is a classic Tortoise and Hare parable, but with the players taking on surprising roles,&#8221; Glaser wrote. &#8220;The much larger Amazon lept to an early lead, but was unable to turn it into a sustained success. The more nimble Grabango, ironically, took the more difficult technical path, and is now reaping the benefits of its patience with a fundamentally more capable system.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8212; CNBC&#8217;s Ari Levy contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>WATCH: <\/strong><span class=\"waslinkname\">Amazon is making a big bet on selling its cashierless tech to outsiders<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"Placeholder-ArticleBody-Video-108042523\">\n<div role=\"button\" id=\"Placeholder-ArticleBody-Video-108042523\" class=\"PlaceHolder-wrapper\" data-vilynx-id=\"7000353882\" data-test=\"VideoPlaceHolder\">\n<div class=\"InlineVideo-videoEmbed\" id=\"InlineVideo-0\" data-test=\"InlineVideo\">\n<div class=\"InlineVideo-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"InlineVideo-inlineThumbnailContainer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"InlineVideo-videoThumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/wp.worldtechguide.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/amazon-cashierless-tech-competitor-grabango-shutters-after-failing-to-secure-funding.jpg\" alt=\"Why Amazon is selling its cashierless tech to outsiders after removing it from its own U.S. stores\"><span class=\"InlineVideo-videoButton\"><\/span><span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Grabango&#8217;s mobile app Grabango Grabango, a venture-backed startup that was vying to take on Amazon in cashierless checkout technology, is shutting down after it was unable to raise enough money to stay afloat. &#8220;Although the company established itself as a leader in checkout-free technology, it was not able to secure the funding it needed to &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26502,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"hashtags":[],"class_list":["post-26501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech","has-thumb","has-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.worldtechguide.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26501"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.worldtechguide.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.worldtechguide.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.worldtechguide.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.worldtechguide.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.worldtechguide.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.worldtechguide.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.worldtechguide.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.worldtechguide.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.worldtechguide.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26501"},{"taxonomy":"hashtags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.worldtechguide.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtags?post=26501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}