Bossa Nova buys AI venture Hawxeye
US-based inventory robots venture, Bossa Nova, has acquired Hawxeye, a Carnegie Mellon University spinoff which focuses on face detection and object recognition technology. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Bossa Nova is changing the retail ecosystem. They deliver unparalleled real-time product data to the largest retailers in the world through fully autonomous service robots,” says Prof. Marios Savvides, Hawxye Founder, Chief AI Scientist at Bossa Nova and Director of CyLab Biometrics Center at CMU. “When combined with their robotics technology, our AI can unlock unprecedented levels of accuracy, reliability, and scale in retail scene understanding. With Bossa Nova, we’re confident we can create a new era of retail data and analytics.”
The acquisition comes just weeks after Bossa Nova closed a $29 million funding round led by Cota Capital. With new participation from China Walden Ventures, LG Electronics, alongside existing investors, this brought its total funding to $70 million. The cash is to be used to further recruitment and R&D efforts. The company, whose robots are currently deployed in 50 Walmart stores across the US, is also exploring opening international offices.
