Logo/Grabango
Grabango, a checkout-free technology provider for convenience-store and grocery chains, has permanently discontinued operations.
“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,” a company spokesperson confirmed for CSP. “The company would like to thank its employees, investors and clients for all their hard work and dedication. The decision was an extremely difficult one to make.”
The story was first reported by The Spoon.
Prior to founding Berkeley, California-based Grabango in 2016, founder and CEO Will Glaser co-founded Pandora Media, the music streaming service.
Grabango’s technology leveraged “pure computer vision” technology rather than shelf sensors, according to the company, which differentiated itself from Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology. The system places no limits on who can enter the store, what can be sold there or how the shelving is configured. It does not require special carts or gates, it said.
Grocer ALDI recently deployed Grabango technology, and other major retail partners have included convenience-store chains Chevron, bp, Circle K, MAPCO and GetGo as well as other major grocers.
Grabango raised just over $73 million, according to a CNBC report, with its most sizable financing round coming in 2021. In June of that year, Grabango announced that it had raised $39 million in a round led by Commerce Ventures, with participation from Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, Unilever Ventures, Honeywell Ventures and WIND Ventures.
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