Qualcomm Ventures Invests In AiFi To Speed Deployment Of Contactless, Autonomous Shopping Technology

With Participation From Plum Alley, TransLink Capital, and Cervin Ventures

AiFi Inc., the technology company creating one of the world's most advanced autonomous store technologies, today announced it has raised additional funding from Qualcomm Ventures LLC, existing investors Cervin Ventures and TransLink Capital, and new investor Plum Alley, among others. The new investments bring the total to $30 million.

"As intelligence continues to move from the cloud to the wireless edge and demand for contactless shopping grows, we are excited to be investing in AiFi," said Carlos Kokron, VP Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and Managing Director, Americas at Qualcomm Ventures. "We were very impressed with AiFi's innovative edge-computing solutions and look forward to their technology helping accelerate the deployment of 5G."

AiFi is building out hundreds of new and retrofitted autonomous stores around the world. With 330 stores slated to open in 2021, AiFi has partnerships with five of the top 10 U.S. grocery chains, three of the top six European chains, and with a number one store chain in Australia. A range of stores in California and Texas are expected to open by the end of the year.

AiFi's solution delivers a checkout-free experience with extremely accurate, instantaneous receipts, and provides a variety of customizations and operational tools to help retailers build and operate autonomous stores. The company creates value for retailers and brands by improving store productivity and profitability and brings more convenience and a delightful shopping experience to shoppers.

"We are incredibly excited for Qualcomm Ventures' investment to accelerate the deployment of AiFi-powered autonomous stores. We will be focusing on building out our OASIS platform so implementations will be even faster," said Steve Gu, Co-founder, and CEO, AiFi. "With this new funding, AiFi will continue to develop its technology so stores around the world will get smarter and more efficient, making in-store shopping easier, more profitable and safer than ever before."