Simbe Robotics Secures $50M Series C Funding to Expand AI-Powered Retail Automation

Simbe Raises $50 Million in Series C Funding Led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives - Goldman Sachs Gr (NYSE:GS)

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Simbe, a leading provider of Store Intelligence™ solutions, today announced the closing of a $50 million Series C equity financing round led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives ("Goldman Sachs"), with participation from Eclipse and Valo Ventures and other existing investors. Since raising its Series B in July 2023, Simbe has achieved significant momentum and milestones such as introducing multiple capabilities and securing numerous new and expanded partnerships across various retail sectors. The new capital, which brings the total amount raised by Simbe to over $100 million, will be used to meet surging demand for retail technology across retail verticals, expand into new product areas, and continue scaling its best-in-class solutions to retailers and brands around the world. Since introducing the world's first advanced autonomous item-scanning robot, Tally, Simbe has refined, expanded, and scaled its platform to power automated shelf intelligence for the largest number of retail banners in the world. Through industry-leading computer vision, AI, and robotics, retailers and their vendors gain unprecedented visibility into store and shelf conditions - ultimately driving data-driven decisions across all channels, stronger business performance, and enhanced store team and shopper experiences. This year, the company announced new and expanded partnerships with major retailers and their banners, including SpartanNash (Family Fare, Martin's Super Markets, D&W Fresh Market, VG's Grocery), Wakefern Food Corp. (ShopRite), Northeast Grocery (Market 32, Price Chopper Supermarkets, Tops Friendly Markets), Albertsons Companies (Market Street, United Supermarkets, Albertsons Market), and CarrefourSA, while continuing to strengthen existing partnerships with BJ's Wholesale Club, Schnuck Markets, Inc., and multiple Fortune 500 retailers yet to be formally announced. Today, Simbe powers automated shelf intelligence for leading retailers across three continents and is the only retail technology vendor delivering proven value at scale with multiple chain-wide deployments and long-standing customer successes. "Retail is a cornerstone of modern society, yet physical stores remain burdened by what we call the last great data desert - knowing precisely what's happening on store shelves. In partnership with top global retailers, Simbe is building the essential system of record to power retail's operating layer," said Brad Bogolea, Simbe's Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer. "Goldman Sachs is renowned for supporting and scaling enterprise technology and automation companies, and this new capital underscores our vision to transform retail with true in-store visibility. Simbe's technology will power every store, improving the experience for every retailer, brand, employee and shopper." In 2024, Simbe introduced numerous products and capabilities, including: Simbe Brand Insights, which extends the enormous value of near real-time, shelf-level data to retailers' vendors, brands, and manufacturers for the first time, strengthening partnerships, performance, and the retail experience for all;Simbe Virtual Tour, which allows retailers to view their stores from anywhere in the world at a depth and frequency that's never been possible before;Simbe Mobile, which streamlines work for store teams by providing a prioritized list of pricing and restocking tasks in near real-time, right at their fingertips;Simbe Wholesale Club Solution, the industry's first and only shelf-intelligence platform designed specifically for wholesale club environments. "Retail automation is a rapidly growing sector, and Simbe is well-positioned to capitalize on the enormous market opportunity due to its strong track record with top global retailers, underscoring its proven impact at scale and strong capabilities," said Ben Fife, Investor, Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives. "We proactively led Simbe's $50 million round because we recognize their distinct ability to steer retail transformation and meet surging demand for AI and robotics. It's only a matter of time until we see technology like Simbe's in every retail store." Proceeds will be used to accelerate global deployments, broaden retail offerings, and pursue strategic growth opportunities. Simbe will also expand its team, which grew by 100% in the past year with the addition of top talent at the leadership level and beyond, to further propel the future of retail and the next phase of company growth. For more information about Simbe and its leading retail automation solutions, visit www.simberobotics.com. About Simbe Simbe's market-leading Store Intelligence™ platform increases retailer performance with unprecedented visibility and near real-time insights. Cutting-edge AI and robotics power business-critical intelligence that streamlines inventory management and store operations, while elevating store teams and shoppers' experiences. Simbe's comprehensive platform includes the world's first autonomous, item-scanning robot, Tally, which identifies exact product location, stock level, and pricing & promotion information with market-leading computer vision. Simbe works with top worldwide brands in the US, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.simberobotics.com. About Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives Goldman Sachs GS is one of the leading investors in alternatives globally, with over $500 billion in assets and more than 30 years of experience. The business invests in the full spectrum of alternatives including private equity, growth equity, private credit, real estate, infrastructure, hedge funds and sustainability. Clients access these solutions through direct strategies, customized partnerships, and open-architecture programs. The business is driven by a focus on partnership and shared success with its clients, seeking to deliver long-term investment performance drawing on its global network and deep expertise across industries and markets. The alternative investments platform is part of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, which delivers investment and advisory services across public and private markets for the world's leading institutions, financial advisors and individuals. Goldman Sachs has over $3.1 trillion in assets under supervision globally as of September 30, 2024. Since 2003, Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives has invested over $13 billion in companies led by visionary founders and CEOs. The team focuses on investments in growth stage and technology-driven companies spanning multiple industries, including enterprise technology, financial technology, consumer and healthcare. Contact Caitlin Allen SVP of Market press@simberobotics.com Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Goldman Sachs-backed Simbe Robotics raises $50M in Series C funding to bolster retail robot business

Next time you're at the grocery, don't be alarmed if you spot a six-foot-tall robot, gliding its way down the dry goods aisle -- checking on prices and seeing what's in stock. It's just a Tally, the retail inventory robot designed by Simbe Robotics, that is making note of what items are sold out on the shelves, which prices need updating, and planning the most efficient routes for employees to bag online orders. Simbe, a retail-focused robotics company, now has hundreds of robots out in retail and grocery store chains like Schnuck Markets, BJ's Wholesale Club, and Albertsons. Last week, the company closed a $50 million Series C round led by Goldman Sachs' growth equity fund and other previous investors like Eclipse Ventures and Valo Ventures. Simbe CEO Brad Bogolea says the company will use the money to start investing more in the technical and commercial side of its business -- building out its product and engineering teams, as well as sales and marketing and customer support teams -- and keep growing the company from around 75 people. Robotics is a difficult market to operate a business: Accuracy is key, and many companies have failed. And yet, startups continue to attract investors -- particularly as the prices for robotic hardware components have fallen and companies explore new ways to leverage AI. Robotics company Physical Intelligence, for example, is reportedly discussing a $2 billion valuation. OpenAI-backed Figure earlier this year raised $675 million at a $2.6 billion valuation. And Kyle Vogt, who cofounded GM-owned self-driving robotaxi company Cruise, raised $150 million earlier this year for his new robot company, even after his controversial separation from Cruise. Simbe CEO Brad Bogolea wouldn't specify the valuation his company garnered from the latest funding round, but said it was three times that of its last round, in July 2023, when Simbe raised $28 million. One of Simbe's board members, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized by their firm to speak on the record, confirmed the valuation was three times larger. But while the amount of capital being thrown about may be flashy, it will be results that dictate whether any of these companies succeed, or fail like Alphabet's Everyday Robots or the pizza-making robot Zume -- whether their robots can actually perform tasks more effectively than a human, and therefore save money and time for people and the companies they work for. At Simbe, which focuses on major retailers as its customers, the robot Tally -- a tall, thin, white robot that rolls around on a circular base -- goes up and down aisles and uses computer vision software to capture which items are out-of-stock or low-in-stock, what has been misplaced on the shelf, and which prices or promotions aren't accurately labeled. In the backend, the robot is mapping out the store layout, sending alerts to employees on what to fix, and establishing routes for employees or third-party shoppers to put together online delivery orders. Simbe is now working with 29 retail brands, Bogolea says. Some of those are still just pilots, although more than half of those brands have moved beyond piloting to real contracts. In some cases, such as with Schnucks, Tally has been rolled out in every store and become a robotic member of the workforce -- helping reduce the inventory on hand, keep the shelves stocked, and sort out pricing errors in their stores. Simbe CEO Bogolea told Fortune that the company, on average, saves retailers it works with about 4 to 6 times the cost of its service, although he wouldn't specify specific pricing. What he did say was that Simbe offers a per-store monthly fee for its platform and hardware, charged in an annual subscription. Recently, Simbe also started offering retailers the option to sell data Simbe collects to the vendors who vie for prime shelf space at their stores -- to get data on how much inventory should be kept on hand, or optimal shelf placement. Simbe, in turn, will take a portion of the revenue that retailer makes from the data. With newfound advancements in AI -- and, in particular, foundation models, which are designed to incorporate enormous amounts of data to perform a wide set of tasks -- many of the newer robotic entrants are trying to take new approaches to how robots move and operate. It's a job that can entail steep computing costs -- and some investors and industry insiders say it's still unclear whether the approach will ultimately work. Either way -- it requires lots and lots of data. "When it comes to robots, that data is unavailable. You have to collect it," says Sarjoun Skaff, the former CEO Bossa Nova Robotics, one of the original retail robotics companies. "It takes a large investment in data capture to take steps towards a foundational model." Simbe Robotics has not incorporated these kinds of models into the robot itself, according to Bogolea. It's been building upon computer vision and robotics perception to autonomously navigate robots through the aisles since it started nine years ago. But where Bogolea does see significant opportunity in foundation models is how his company will further mine the data it collects afterward, apply it to foundation models, and then deliver more meaningful business analytics to its customers. "You've had companies wandering around through satellite and with lidars and cameras on cars, wandering streets, but we really lack the kind of data to train foundational models on things that are off-road and non-urban," says Simbe Robotics investor Aidan Madigan-Curtis of Eclipse Ventures, who led Simbe's Series B. She added that Simbe is one of the "companies gathering a lot of critical information about these spaces, and so they'll be well positioned." But one challenge for Simbe may be keeping retailers interested -- and selling new ones on the opportunity for cost savings. Skaff explained how Bossa Nova Robotics, which had raised more than $100 million in venture funding, according to PitchBook, had deployed robots across 600 Walmart supercenters in a major contract before the retailer opted to pull the plug. Bossa Nova struggled to find new customers for its robots after losing such a large contract, and eventually had to shut down at the end of last year. Curtis said that this "market is still forming" -- and that many retailers haven't considered using robots for maintaining their shelves. "It's much easier to sell to a market where everybody knows they need it and they have a budget," she says. As for people shopping in the stores, they haven't seemed to need much convincing to appreciate Tally the robot. Bogolea explained how Simbe has received emails and letters from robot fans. He shared an email from one woman from July, saying that her niece, who is 7, was "so excited" to see the robot in action that she asked if the company sold t-shirts, or any kind of merch she could buy for her. "Shirley can't wait to go back to school and tell her STEM teacher all about her robot visits this summer," the woman wrote.