Smart retail solution powerhouse Cloudpick attracts investment to scale operations, expand staff complement.
LEADING smart retail solution provider Cloudpick has secured additional investment from investors which it will use to increase its staff complement, drive development within the local smart retailing store market and expand its operation.
Top iTechnology SaaS News:Â Vulcan Cyber Joins Microsoft Intelligent Security Association, Integrates Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Threat and Vulnerability Management into Cyber Risk Management Platform
The latest funding round is another win for Cloudpick after the company recently secured investment by Intel Capital and Cathay Innovation.
The most recent investment emerged from a recent round of funding led by a CVC fund, jointly operated by the famous Japanese company Seiko Epson Corporation and Japan’s leading venture capital institution Global Brain, as well as Uzabase’s venture capital department UB Ventures.
The capital injection could not have arrived at a better time for Cloudpick as it continues to experience growth into the third year of the pandemic.
Founded in 2017, the company has the vision to improve the happiness of consumers and employees with its multi-dimensional space perception and digital twin technology. The company is committed to leading the technological breakthrough of the core knowledge of artificial intelligence and building an affordable market-ready solution in the retail industry.
The company has an impressive track record of success in the market. To date it has launched over 250 stores worldwide, among which the total number of registered users is more than 5 million.  The number of orders has grown to over 15 million. The Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) generated by the seamless payment system is over US$32-million. They have more than 100 customers, including leading retailers, brands, information system integrators, airports, and well-known universities.
Cloudpick’s solution delivers proven accuracy while simultaneously reducing costs for computation. The leading technology empowers autonomous stores to leverage higher computing power devices with less, and lower hardware costs to launch.
Top iTechnology Cloud News:Â Aruba ESP Delivers Cloud-native Services to Automate and Accelerate the Deployment and Protection of Edge-to-Cloud Networks
Cloudpick founder and CEOÂ Jeff Feng, said, “The store deployment cycle is less than one week, which puts us three years ahead of our peers, particularly with a high accuracy rate for checkout.”
It is reported that the speed of its automatic checkout can reach three-to-five times more than a traditional manual cash register, to help retailers save about 80% of labour costs per store.
Meanwhile, an autonomous store can process 800 customer requests an hour, 15,000 orders a day, and reduce theft or damage by US$1000Â monthly.
Based on inventory out-of-stock reminders and replenishment control, the product turnover rises by 11% while the amount of scrap turns down by 50%. In addition, depending upon the added value, like shopping behavior analysis, precision marketing, and omnichannel commerce, a smart retailing solution can i************* up to 200%.
Feng sees the autonomous store as a digital reinvention of traditional physical stores and says these stores can be customised to suit and enhance numerous environments including offices, hotels, and sports stadiums, etc.
The Cloudpick executive believes there’s potential within the unattended or underserved markets and communities where labour costs increase and millennials are not willing to handle repetitive tasks.
He said, “Today, various factors are driving the rapid development of the traditional retail industry, including the impact of e-commerce, and the higher demands of Generation Z for convenience in the past two years. The emergence of automated stores has become an irreversible trend to use intelligent technologies to empower brick-and-mortar stores.”
The investors
Epson X Investment Corporation (EXI) is a corporate venture capital (CVC) firm. It is wholly owned by Seiko Epson Corporation, information equipment, and precision products manufacturer.
Epson joined forces with general partner Global Brain Corporation, an independent venture capital company with expertise in CVC management, to form a fund (the EP-GB Investment Limited Partnership) and carry out investment activities.
Global Brain is a venture capital firm that invests in companies from seed/early to pre-IPO start-ups. As one of Japan’s largest venture capital companies, Global Brain invested in Japanese unicorn company Mercari, which is the largest C2C online marketplace in Japan.
Yasuhiko Yurimoto, President & CEO, Global Brain Corporation, said: “We highly recognize its management team with strong business and academic background, the leading market solution and expanding retail x AI market. Through this investment, Global Brain together with Epson X Investment Corporation will support the further solution development and business expansion with Cloudpick.”
Founded in 2018, UB Ventures specializes in SaaS, Metaverse, and AIoT areas. Leveraging its extensive experience in the creation of both B2B and B2C subscription businesses, UB Ventures provides support to B2B/SaaS and digital media start-ups to foster sustainable relationships with their users through subscriptions, helping them to grow alongside their users.
Based on this funding and endorsement of these well-known investors, Cloudpick will accelerate the development of the global market focus on the Japanese market.
Top iTechnology Analytics News:Â Millennium Corp Unlocks the Power of Infused Analytics With Sisense, Bolstering Accountability Across Its Businesses
[To share your insights with us, please write to sghosh@martechseries.com]
