Company veteran João Diogo Falcão steps into role of CEO at autonomous stores firm AiFi

Autonomous stores specialist, AiFi, reports a leadership transition, with CEO Steve Carlin transitioning back to his role as Venture Partner at one of its investors, Translink Capital. 

He will continue to support and advise the company.

“We’re deeply grateful for Steve’s leadership and proud of what the team has accomplished under his guidance: deploying more than 300+ autonomous stores worldwide, expanding partnerships with the likes of Microsoft, launching the world’s most innovative stadium in the Intuit Dome, and much more,” a company spokesperson said.

They added: “We’re equally excited to welcome our Co-founder and CTO, João Diogo Falcão, as our new CEO. JD has been with us from the beginning, building our technology, leading our teams, and shaping our vision. His appointment ensures continuity as we accelerate our mission to unlock the power of spatial intelligence for retailers, venues, and brands around the world.”

In a LinkedIn post, Falcão said: “I’m honoured to step into the role of CEO at AiFi., a company I’ve had the privilege of helping build since the beginning. First, I want to thank Steve Carlin for his incredible leadership over the past three years.”

“His guidance helped AiFi scale through an important growth phase, expand our global partnerships, and solidify our position as the leader in spatial intelligence. I’m grateful that Steve will continue to support and advise us in his role with Translink Capital as Venture Partner.”

He added: “For me, this is both a professional and personal milestone. From the beginning, our vision at AiFi has been to digitise physical spaces the way search engines digitised the internet; making them queryable, measurable, and actionable. To truly make AI available for the physical world. We’re just scratching the surface of what spatial intelligence can unlock, and I’m energised to lead our next phase of growth.”

Falcão concluded: “To our team: thank you for your brilliance and passion, you’re the heart of AiFi. To our partners: we remain committed to delivering the most advanced spatial AI platform in the world. I’m excited to continue this journey with all of you.”

2025 RTIH INNOVATION AWARDS

Autonomous stores will be a key focus area at the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards. which are now open for entries, celebrate global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Our 2024 hall of fame entrants were revealed during an event which took place at RIBA’s 66 Portland Place HQ in Central London on 21st November, and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by comedian Lucy Porter.

In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “The event is now into its sixth year and what a journey it has been. The awards started life as an online only affair during the Covid outbreak, before launching as a small scale in real life event and growing year on year to the point where we’re now selling out this fine, historic venue.”

He added: “Congratulations to all of our finalists. Many submissions did not make it through to the final stage, and getting to this point is no mean feat. Checkout-free stores, automated supply chains, immersive experiences, on-demand delivery, next generation loyalty offerings, inclusive retail, green technology. We’ve got all the cool stuff covered this evening.”

“But just importantly we’ve got lots of great examples of companies taking innovative tech and making it usable in everyday operations - resulting in more efficiency and profitability in all areas.”

Congratulations to our 2024 winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Lucy Porter, and all those who attended November's gathering. 

For further information on the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards, please fill in the below form and we will get back to you asap.