Smart autonomous stores firm VenHub Global adds former Nasdaq capital markets head to board
VenHub Global has announced the appointment of Jay Heller to its advisory board. Heller currently serves as CEO at K Lab AI. He previously led capital markets at Nasdaq from 2012, where his team oversaw more than 3,000 IPOs and listings, including VenHub’s listing on the exchange in January.
Before joining Nasdaq, he worked as Senior Managing Director at Nasdaq’s Market Intelligence Desk and held positions at American Capital Partners, Pershing, and NDB Capital Markets, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank.
In a LinkedIn post, VenHub said: “Heller’s deep understanding of listing strategy, investor appetite, and liquidity formation will be a powerful asset as we accelerate our autonomous retail vision and build long-term value.”
Viva Las Vegas!
VenHub recently announced the opening of its second and larger production and assembly facility in Las Vegas.
This builds on the extension of an agreement with LAX/Metro, a partnership with Circa Resort & Casino for a first of its kind autonomous smart store deployment at the property, and additional agreements for new autonomous locations across Las Vegas.
“The opening of our second production facility is a defining moment in the continuing evolution of VenHub,” says Shahan Ohanessian, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at VenHub.
“We are no longer preparing to scale; we are now fully equipped to meet our growing demand and scale rapidly. With demand growing, new partnerships taking shape, and our footprint expanding, this facility gives us the capacity and power to assemble and deploy our smart stores faster. Every smart store we deliver is a customer served, a partner advanced, and a step toward the future of autonomous retail we set out to address.”
VenHub says that it is prioritising deployments across the transit and airports, campuses and universities, corporate and government, fuel and EV charging, venues and entertainment, and non-fuel convenience and retail sectors.
Doubling down
As mentioned earlier, VenHub has secured a two-year extension of the company’s partnership agreement with LA Metro for a store located at the LAX/Metro Transit Center at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
This opened in June 2025 and is positioned to help meet the retail demand of the expected hundreds of thousands of football (soccer) fans from around the world that will travel through LAX for the eight FIFA World Cup games taking place in Los Angeles beginning next month.
“Extending our partnership at the LAX/Metro Transit Center is a testament to the significant value VenHub can deliver to transportation partners in high traffic, staffing challenged retail locations,” says Ohanessian. “This flagship location has become a showcase for how fully autonomous smart stores enhance convenience, improve service levels, and operate reliably in high traffic environments around the clock.”
The store offers a mix of travel essentials, snacks, beverages, and everyday convenience items, all accessible through a self-service experience with no in-store staff required. The store’s modular, robotic design allows for rapid restocking, real-time inventory visibility, and data driven product optimisation designed to meet the needs of airport passengers and transit riders.
