Smart Cart Startup Shopic Announces $35M Funding

Shopic, the smart shopping cart startup, has completed a $35 million round of equity fundraising.

The investment will allow the Tel Aviv-based company to accelerate rollout of its AI-powered device that clips on to any standard shopping cart and turns it into a smart cart.

It allows users to skip the checkout line, pay on the cart, and leave the store in under a minute.

The $35 million brings total investment in the company to $56 million. The round was led by Qualcomm Ventures, with the participation of Vintage Investment Partners and Clal Insurance. Shopic’s existing investors, IBI Tech Fund, Tal Ventures, Claridge Israel and Shufersal, also participated.

Shufersal, Israel’s largest supermarket chain, announced last December that it had signed a cooperation deal with Shopic.

Shopic developed a device with two cameras and computer vision to track when customers add and remove items from their shopping cart.

It requires no changes in the store’s physical infrastructure, no expenditure on new carts and it can be deployed in any store within a few days, the company says.

Raz Golan, Shopic’s Co-founder and CEO, said: “Completing this funding round in the current market conditions is a strong indication of Shopic’s strength in the emerging market of smart store solutions.

“As we scale our operations to dozens of stores, the new funds will help us build a robust organization to support our customers and deliver innovation to their retail floors.”

Merav Weinryb, VP and Managing Director at Qualcomm Ventures, who led the investment, said: “We strongly support Shopic’s vision of hybrid retail, where the best of online shopping and physical store experience merge.

“We see it happening in Shopic’s smart cart, which is a compelling and pragmatic smart retail solution. We were very impressed with the performance of Shopic’s cart in live supermarkets, demonstrating the potential of AI to transform everyday experience for everyone.”