CRV invests $5.5m in Standard Cognition
US startup, Standard Cognition, has raised an additional $5.5 million from CRV, bringing its total funding to date to $11.2 million. It has also hired two new execs, from Macy's and Walmart.
The venture is taking on Amazon Go, with an AI and machine vision-based autonomous checkout solution. It says that it has already signed on several retailers for pilots, which will launch later this year.
"Pressure from Amazon is forcing retailers to rethink traditional ways of doing business,” says Devdutt Yellurkar, General Partner at CRV. “We continue to be impressed with the Standard team, and we think they are on track to be the primary alternative to Amazon Go. We see incredible opportunity in the space, and we’re excited to work with Standard as they deliver autonomous checkout and a deeper understanding of consumer shopping behaviour.”
Meanwhile, the aforementioned new execs are Jon Nam, Head of Global Operations and Evan Shiue, Head of Corporate Strategy and Growth. The former has held leadership positions at Macy’s, RetailNext, CNBC and CCIntegration, whilst the latter has over 15 years of experience in senior roles across strategy and corporate development at the likes of Walmart and PepsiCo.
“Jon and Evan are already making a big impact here,” says Michael Suswal, COO and Co-founder, Standard Cognition. “We are ready for the next stage of Standard’s growth - rolling out our AI-based autonomous checkout solution to retailers all over the world - and are grateful for all the support and guidance from CRV.”