Tel Aviv-based Trigo has raised $60 million in a Series B funding round, thanks to excitement over its frictionless checkout technology.
The company’s solution operates through ceiling-mounted cameras, and uses computer vision technology to track shoppers as they move through a store. The aim is to allow a consumer to pick up an item and carry it out without the need to stop at a checkout; Trigo’s AI system will automatically charge the shopper’s account.
It’s an approach that is similar to (but not the same as) some of the nascent ‘naked payments’ systems that have emerged in recent years that use biometrics to link shoppers to their payment accounts, allowing them to make purchases without the need to present a payment card, cash, or any other kind of hardware to facilitate the transaction. But Trigo’s platform does not use biometric data, instead processing “anonymized movement and product choice data”, as the company put it in a statement; this approach is intended to help protect the privacy of consumers.
The Series B funding round was led by 83North, a venture capital firm with offices in Israel and the U.K. It also featured existing investors Vertex Ventures Israel, Hetz Ventures, Red Dot Capital Partners, Morrag Investments, and Tesco.
That last firm – a popular grocery chain in the U.K. and Europe – also happens to have been trialling Trigo’s technology at a Tesco Express convenience store at its headquarters.
“We’re delighted to be working with Trigo as they continue to grow their business,” commented Tesco CTO Guus Dekkers. “Together, we have made great progress testing the frictionless checkout solution in our trial store in Welwyn Garden City and we are excited by this technology and the opportunities it brings.”
Trigo says that this new funding will be used “to scale the company’s ability to meet growing demand, boost R&D, and expand its global presence.” Its total funding now amounts to $94 million.
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