Former Reckon.ai CEO Ana Pinto gets back in the retail game as she accepts COO position at Maikoz

Ana Pinto has joined Maikoz, which designs, deploys and connects AI enabled smart fridges and micromarkets across Europe, in the role of COO.

She was previously at Portugal-based unattended retail startup, Reckon.ai, where she served as CEO and Co-founder.

"I accepted to join Maikoz because it’s a super opportunity to combine technology with people who deeply understand how this industry works and scales. This allows to create something very hard to replicate, and a chance to rethink retail operations from the ground up,” she says.

”With Ana we now have a complete team with all competences needed to ensure we can provide the best support to our partners, not only through the competence and experience, but also with the big engagement and genuine care for customer success that she brings, with advanced AI solution and sophisticated solutions, the people around it is equally important,” says Andreas Fetscher, CEO at Maikoz.

2026 RTIH Innovation Awards

Unattended retail will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards are now open for entries and celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Wednesday, 4th November.

Check out our 2025 winners here.

Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.

In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”

“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”

He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”

Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.