Grocery delivery service Instacart announced today that it has acquired cashierless checkout startup Caper for $350 million in cash and stock. Not a bad return for a company that only raised $13 million.
Caper’s mainly known for making smart shopping carts that enable cashierless checkout. Caper’s smart carts have cameras, weight sensors and a big touchscreen that automatically keep track of what shoppers put in. Customers can then skip the checkout line, paying via the cart as they exit the store.
Caper also makes a countertop cashierless checkout system for convenience stores, but when it comes to the Instacart acquisition, we’re more interested in the carts. Why? Because now when you use a Caper smart cart — you become an unpaid gig worker for Instacart. (Congratulations!)
