More Frictionless Checkout Winners & Losers
Grabango closes, Starship in Minnesota, Kind Humanoid scores top designer
Before we get to all of this week’s big news, we’d like to encourage anyone in town for LA Tech Week to join us on Thursday for an industry happy hour in Culver City. We’ll be gathering founders, funders, tinkerers, regulators, corporates and media for drinks, networking and good conversation. RSVP now!
Just Walk Out Loses Top Leadership
Last week we documented how much Amazon is struggling to get its frictionless checkout division in working order, as its Just Walk Out tech retrenches from Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh. Now more execs are jumping ship: Dilip Kumar, who co-created the technology, has left the team, as has Sanjay Dash, who leads identity and checkout technologies. Colleen Aubrey, who comes from the ecommerce giant’s ad division, will reportedly now lead the group as head of AWS Solutions.
Grabango Shutters, Scan & Go Expands
Amazon isn’t the only one struggling: Berkeley, CA-based checkout-free tech provider Grabango is shutting down, after about eight years of operations. The startup had raised $93 million in funding, and worked with shopping giants like Aldi Süd and 7-Eleven, but was unable to secure new financing for its CapEx-intensive business.
Walmart-owned Sam’s Club, however, isn’t backing away from the concept. The bulk discounter recently opened a new store in Texas with no checkout area, instead exclusively using its Scan & Go technology. Sodexo also still appears to be a big believer in the concept, having just launched four more eat>NOW frictionless convenience stores on college campuses.
Kind Humanoid Scores Famed Designer Yves Béhar
Swiss designer Yves Béhar has created some of the tech world’s most iconic creations: the Jawbone headset, the OLPC laptop, Movado watches and more. Now he’s teamed up with Kind Humanoid to beautify a new creation: human-like robots. The Khosla Ventures and Samsung Next-backed startup envisions its robots assisting with tasks like home care and physical therapy. Meanwhile another flashy humanoid, Tesla’s Optimus, turns out to be more remotely-operated than truly autonomous.
Starship Launches in Minnesota
Delivery robotics pioneer Starship just went live at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, the first time the tech has been deployed in Minneapolis. The college food service program is managed by Chartwells Higher Education’s M Food Co, while the launch required cooperation from the city’s Public Works Department.
In Other News
Follow along one day in the life of an Amazon AMR. On the challenging economics of robotaxis. Save A Lot, Fabric and Uber Eats partner on automated MFC for Brooklyn grocery deliveries. Friend of Ottomate Darian Ahler joins Cibotica as strategic advisor. Beyond Meat’s plant-based McNuggets find traction in McDonald’s Germany and France. Everything Tesla didn’t reveal at last week’s “We, Robot” event.