Simbe Robotics – a company utilizing AI and robotics to elevate the performance of retailers with real-time insights into inventory and operations – recently announced a Series B equity financing round of $28 million led by Eclipse. Known as one of the premier venture firms specializing in the digital transformation of essential physical industries that impact daily life, Eclipse brings invaluable knowledge and expertise to propel Simbe through its next growth phase. And this investment marks a vote of confidence in emerging retail and grocery technologies. The funding will enable Simbe to meet rising global customer demand, enter future product areas, expand its team, and continue delivering value to new and existing partners by optimizing in-store and e-commerce operations.
Simbe is a category leader in retail automation solutions, combining cutting-edge AI and robotics in a single platform that empowers retailers to protect profitability and enhance business operations. And the company’s comprehensive business intelligence solution is powered by Tally, the world’s first fully autonomous in-store product auditing solution that traverses aisles to generate exact product location data and identify out-of-stock, misplaced, or mispriced products at more than 99% accuracy. This platform transforms retail operations through proprietary AI, computer vision, RFID, and edge computing technology that delivers greater visibility, more accurate data, and real-time insights — creating a better experience for shoppers and store teams.
This latest funding round follows a successful Series A in 2019, bringing the total amount raised by Simbe to $54 million. And this funding round also builds on the company’s incredible momentum and growth, having increased its annual recurring revenue by 10X and contracted annual recurring revenue by 22X since 2020.
Since launching Tally, Simbe made significant strides in refining its sophisticated retail automation solution. And in 2020, Simbe introduced Tally 3.0, the latest iteration of Tally and the most advanced autonomous inventory robot on the market. The advancements in camera systems, data capture, 2D and 3D imaging, and more have led to more refined machine learning and AI models that deliver higher-quality data and deeper insights into store environments. As a result, partners experience 3-4x return on investment (ROI) within 60 days when leveraging Simbe’s business intelligence platform.
This year, Simbe developed new capabilities tailored explicitly to the warehouse club format to prepare Tally for chainwide deployment across BJ’s Wholesale Club locations, further validating that Simbe’s solution can seamlessly integrate into any retail environment. And along with partnering with BJ’s Wholesale, Simbe has signed new agreements and expansions with leading retailers, such as Schnuck Markets, SpartanNash, Wakefern, Carrefour, and more. The company also expanded its leadership team, bringing on several industry veterans to serve in key roles, including Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President of Sales. Together, these leaders have supported Simbe’s strategic growth as it continues to build one of the most actionable and valuable datasets in the retail ecosystem.
Over the past year, Simbe has:
— Serviced 12 of the top 250 global retailers in the Americas, Europe, and the Middle East, including BJ’s Wholesale, Schnuck Markets, SpartanNash, Wakefern, Carrefour, and more
— Processed over 12 billion shelf photos
— Analyzed over 5 billion products for on-shelf availability and price accuracy
— Completed over 1.7 million hours of fully autonomous data capture operations alongside store associates and customers
KEY QUOTES:
“We’re honored to be supported by an investor like Eclipse, with a team that recognizes technology’s incredible potential to significantly enhance retail operations, as well as greatly improve the customer experience. Elevating the retail experience for everyone — retailers, their associates, and customers — through AI and robotics is the foundation of Simbe’s mission, and this funding will enable us to share this vision and reimagined experience with more retail partners around the world.”
— Brad Bogolea, CEO and co-founder of Simbe
“As today’s retailers grapple with inaccurate shelf data and antiquated inventory management processes, Simbe is completely revolutionizing the industry through AI and robotics — proving to be an invaluable solution that curbs these obstacles. One of the most challenging aspects of full-stack systems is engineering a solution that works. Not some of the time, but all the time, in every customer environment. When we saw Simbe’s solution deployed across the country, in a range of store environments, and performing fully autonomously, we were impressed. Simbe has also designed the most consumer-friendly, compact robot of its kind that fits into any store and with any team, and deploys in hours. Simbe’s platform and its volume of data are transforming retail, and we could not be more thrilled to support Brad and his team.”
— Jay Knafel, Partner at Eclipse
“A sizable percentage of global GDP is tied up in inventory. For retailers, mismanaged inventory is a $2 trillion problem and it’s clear the industry needs better tools that allow retailers to understand how their stores are operating in real-time, in order to enhance the in-store experience for all. Simbe has demonstrated the power of AI- and data-driven solutions for driving sales, improving margins, increasing resilience within the retail industry, and ultimately, contributing to continued economic growth.”
— Lior Susan, Founding Partner at Eclipse
