Next time you go to the grocery store, don't worry if you spot a 6-foot-tall robot gliding through the dry goods aisle, checking prices and checking inventory.
This is just Tally, a retail inventory robot designed by Simbe Robotics. Tally keeps track of which items are sold out on the shelves, which prices need updating, and plans the most efficient route for employees to bag online orders.
Simbe is a retail-focused robotics company that currently has hundreds of robots installed in retail and grocery chains such as Schnuck Market, BJ's Wholesale Club, and Albertsons. Last week, the company closed a $50 million Series C round led by Goldman Sachs Growth Equity Fund and previous investors including Eclipse Ventures and Valo Ventures. Simbe CEO Brad Bogolea said the company will use the funding to begin further investing in the technical and commercial side of the business, building out its product and engineering teams, sales, marketing and customer support teams, and expanding the company's says it will continue to grow. About 75 people.
Robotics is a difficult market to operate a business in. Accuracy is key and many companies fail. Still, startups continue to attract investors, especially as prices for robotic hardware components fall and companies look for new ways to leverage AI. For example, robotics company Physical Intelligence is reportedly discussing a $2 billion valuation. OpenAI-backed Figure raised $675 million earlier this year at a $2.6 billion valuation. And Kyle Vogt, co-founder of GM-owned self-driving robotaxi company Cruise, remains on the hook for $150 million for his new robot company earlier this year, even after his controversial split from Cruise. was procured.
Simbe CEO Brad Bogolea declined to disclose the company's valuation for the latest funding round, but said it was triple the previous round, when Simbe raised $28 million in July 2023. said. One Shin Be board member, speaking on condition of anonymity because the company was not authorized to discuss the record, confirmed the valuation was three times higher.
But while the amount of capital invested may be flashy, it's the results that determine whether these companies succeed or fail, like Alphabet's Everyday Robot or Zume's pizza-making robot. robots can actually perform tasks more efficiently than other companies. Therefore, it saves money and time for people and the companies they work for.
At Simbe, which focuses on major retailers as customers, its robot Tally, a tall, slender white robot that rolls on a circular pedestal, moves up and down the aisles and uses computer vision software to identify which products are available. We know if something is out of stock. Items that are in stock or low in stock, items that have been misplaced on shelves, or items that do not have accurate prices or promotions. On the back end, robots plan store layouts, alert employees about things to fix, and establish routes for employees and third-party shoppers to assemble orders for online delivery.
Shinbe currently works with 29 retail brands, Bogolea said. Some of these are still in pilots, but more than half of those brands have moved beyond pilots into actual contracts. As in the case of Schnucks, Tally has been introduced to every store and becomes part of the employee robots, helping to reduce on-hand inventory, keep shelves stocked, and resolve in-store pricing errors. There are cases where there are.
Simbe CEO Bogorea told Fortune that on average the company saves its retail partners about four to six times the cost of service, but did not provide specific prices. Ta. He said Simbe offers per-store monthly pricing for the platform and hardware, billed on annual subscriptions. Simbe recently began offering retailers the option to sell the data Simbe collects to vendors vying for prime shelf space in their stores. This is to get data on how much inventory to keep on hand or optimal shelf placement. Simbe will receive a cut of the revenue retailers earn from their data.
A new era of robotics
With new advances in AI, especially underlying models designed to incorporate vast amounts of data to perform a wide range of tasks, many robotics newcomers are developing new approaches to how robots move and behave. I'm trying to hire. It's a job that could come with huge computing costs, and some investors and industry observers say it's still unclear whether the approach will ultimately work. Either way, a large amount of data is required.
“When it comes to robots, that data isn't available. You have to collect it,” says Sarjun Skaf, former CEO of Bossanova Robotics, one of the original retail robot companies. “To take a step toward a foundational model requires significant investment in data collection.”
Shinbe Robotics does not incorporate this type of model into the robot itself, Bogolea said. Since its inception nine years ago, it has been built on computer vision and robot recognition to allow robots to navigate hallways autonomously. But where Bogorea sees a big opportunity with the underlying model is how the company can then further mine the data it collects and apply it to the underlying model to provide more meaningful business analysis to its customers.
“There are companies using satellites to put lidars and cameras on cars and walk around the city, but we really lack the data to train basic off-road and non-urban models.” says an investor in Shinbe Robotics. Aidan Madigan-Curtis of Eclipse Ventures, who led Simbe's Series B, said Simbe is “in a good position because it is one of the companies that has collected a lot of important information in these areas. ” he added.
But one challenge for Simbe may be keeping retailers interested and selling new products at cost-cutting opportunities. Skaff said Bossanova Robotics, which had raised more than $100 million in venture funding, according to PitchBook, was in the mix for Walmart's 600 supercenters in a major deal before the retailer opted to exit. He explained how the robot was deployed. After losing such a large contract, Bossa Nova struggled to find new customers for its robots and was ultimately forced to shut down late last year.
Curtis said this “market is still forming” and that many retailers are not considering using robots for shelf maintenance. “It’s much easier to sell to a market that you know everyone needs and has the budget for,” she says.
As for people shopping in stores, it doesn't seem to take much convincing to understand the robot's tally. Bogorea explained how Shin Be had received emails and letters from robot fans.
He shared an email from a woman in July in which her 7-year-old niece was “so excited” to see the robot in action that the company offered to buy her a T-shirt or something. He asked if they were selling goods. she.
“Shirley can't wait to get back to school and tell her STEM teacher about the robot visit this summer,” the woman wrote.
