Augmodo, a real-time inventory and task tracker that leverages wearable SmartBadge on retail associates, has secured $5.3m in seed funding to scale its Spatial AI commerce technology.
The investment round was spearheaded by Lerer Hippeau, with contributions from Dunnhumby Ventures, NewFare Partners, and Simple Food Ventures.
The funding underscores a shared belief in Augmodo's potential to shape the future of retail through its SmartBadges and Spatial AI assistant.
The proprietary SmartBadges designed by Augmodo are equipped with a Spatial AI assistant that suggests tasks to store associates such as restocking, order placement, improving compliance and others to enhance efficiency.
This technology is poised to address the significant revenue losses retail stores face due to inefficiencies and data disconnects, according to the company.
Augmodo founder and CEO Ross Finman said: "Artificial Intelligence is already changing retail, and new advances in AR and spatial computing are about to completely transform the physical world of shopping as we know it.
“We’re deploying our technology across the world’s most innovative retailers to provide their associates with Spatial AI assistants, empowering their workforces to drive revenue and improve shopping experiences for all parties, making store associates even more valuable to their employers.”
The fresh capital will fuel a series of pilot programmes this year involving both brands and retailers.
Augmodo, which has already filed four patents, plans to use the investment to expand these pilots and continue its business growth.
Finman added: "We’re excited to work with leading retailers and brands on several pilots in multiple countries to develop Spatial AI purpose-built for retail use, which will save millions of dollars related to auditing, non-compliance and inefficiencies, so retailers and brands can pass those savings to consumers.
“Developments in AI technology are finally moving quickly enough to be applied productively to the retail arena - and this is just the beginning.”
