Contactles stores will expand in Europe as Sensei returns another $ 16M

While Amazon Go helped pioneer the concept of a completely contactless store, others, like 7-Eleven and Walmart, have entered the space. And the field is growing, partly because several startups – such as Standard Cognition, Zippin, AiFi, Grabango, Trigo – have expanded, offering their expertise to retailers.

But in Europe, Portuguese startup Sensei has been growing the untouchable store platform and has now attracted €15 million in Series A funding led by BlueCrow Capital. Other participants were new investors Lince Capital, Explorer Investments, and Kamay Ventures (the investment arm of Coca-Cola and Arcor Group), as well as existing investors Metro AG and Techstars Ventures.

In 2021 Lisbon-based Sensei raised a $6.5 million (€5.4 million) Seed round. After that, the funding was led by Seaya Ventures and Iberis Capital, with the participation of the 200M Fund.

The implementation is now aiming for 1,000 fully autonomous sales points by 2026. It already works with clients in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, and Brazil, and plans to expand into central and northern Europe.

Using computer vision, AI-powered sensors, and a real-time algorithm, the Sensei system automatically updates a customer’s cart and displays a list of items ready for checkout, with identity and privacy protected.

Contactless stores reduce checkout costs, prevent out-of-stocks, and provide retailers with real-time visibility into store performance.

On the phone Vasco Portugal, CEO and founder of Sensei, said: “We have been growing, especially last year, we have almost doubled the number of stores. So in a short period of time we have been opening stores. We are now in five locations.”

“There are two problems in the retail industry. The customer experience is disappointing. Second, it is very difficult to process all sales information in real time. Now, it’s about the automation of shops, like the automation of cars and the changing industries. I think it’s a natural change,” he added.

António de Mello Campello, Partner at BlueCrow Capital added in a statement: “Artificial intelligence… is transforming several industries, and we believe retail is one of the biggest opportunities and is about to be disrupted. Sensei has proven to be one of the best in the field.”

With all that being said, there is a lot of competition in the space.

Standard Cognition raised $239.4 million, Trigo $199M, Grabango $93.8M, AiFi $87.1M, and Zippin $44M.