Autonomo secures £2 million funding round and preps expansion into the UK and across Europe

Checkout-free software startup Autonomo has closed a £2 million seed funding round.

This was led by London-based Potter Ventures, the team behind the inamo restaurant group, and Liverpool-based UK investors River Capital through its EIS growth fund, fund:AI.

It brings Germany born Autonomo’s total funds raised to ca. £3.8 million, with previous investment coming from a number of parties, including members of The Edeka Group, Germany’s largest supermarket corporation and angel investment from current and former directors at Aldi, Delivery Hero, Metro, Carrefour, Apple and Brookstreet Equity Partners of Mayfair.

The cash will be used to bring Autonomo’s computer vision powered checkout solutions to the UK, after going live in Germany in petrol stations, convenience and grab-and-go stores. 

The process of using the cashierless system is as follows: customers tap a payment card or phone.

Computer vision technology installed throughout the store then anonymously tracks the shopper matching them to the products they pick up. To checkout, they exit the store and the platform automatically takes payment after itemising all the items. 

“Working with bright new investors and constantly opening stores is one way to measure success, but the other really heart-warming impact our stores have is on the local shoppers, where we fundamentally improve their lives,” says James Sutherland, CEO at Autonomo, which launched in 2021.

“We believe in a world where queues, staff inefficiencies and theft are a thing of the past. With our system, we’ve seen hyper-local neighbourhood stores opening up again, stores opening 24/7 and theft drop to near zero.”

“And because it can be scaled to accommodate various store sizes and formats and is significantly more cost-effective than some competitors, we’ve been able to make this tech accessible to both small and large-scale retailers.”

“Combining our tried and tested tech with fresh investment, we're excited to make a mark on the UK retail space and bring these benefits to Britain’s businesses.”

Autonomo says that it is open to further investment, with tax relief available to UK taxpayers under the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), a HMRC run scheme that helps younger, higher risk businesses raise finance by offering investors generous tax reliefs.

David Walters, Investment Director at River Capital, says: “Fund:AI is proud to support Autonomo’s trajectory towards becoming the leading autonomous store provider in Western Europe, utilising UK capital and AI expertise in the North of England to create new deep tech jobs, tapping into the world class data science expertise from the North West region.”

“Our due diligence revealed a pressing need for innovation in grocery retail, where skill shortages and consumer demands for seamless shopping experiences are evident.”

“Autonomo’s solution not only addresses these challenges, but also empowers retailers to enhance customer service and sustainability practices, making it an exciting investment opportunity for us.”