Millennium Leads $10M Round In Supersmart’s Checkout Scan

Millennium Food-Tech (TASE: MIFT.L) announced today that it has led a $10 million funding round for Israeli supermarket checkout scanning system developer Supersmart.

Supersmart develops automatic AI systems for retail chains. As part of the funding round, Millennium Food-Tech will invest up to $5 million in collaboration with other funds and investors. The current round of funding will be used to support the company’s growth and expand its global customer base and continue to grow and expand distribution to existing customers, while strengthening and advancing existing technology, expanding commercialization of the product into new areas and is developing new products and hiring employees.

Millennium Food-Tech will invest $3 million in the first phase. This is the 10th investment since the Millennium Food-Tech R&D Partnership went public on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) 18 months ago, including leading flexible compostable packaging company TIPA’s $70 million funding round earlier this month.

Supersmart has developed technology that allows supermarket customers to install an app on their mobile devices that scans products as they are purchased. At checkout, the customer guides the shopping cart through the scanning unit, where cameras, AI and weighing sensors validate the contents of the cart in three seconds, add up the bill and verify that all products in the cart have actually been scanned. The technology allows the customer to pay via an app or a dedicated pay station and receive their receipt directly on their mobile phone and then walk out of the store without having to queue at the checkout. As a result, the shopping experience is enhanced and the retailer can provide more efficient and better service, reducing product loss due to theft and errors by 90%.

Founded in 2014, Supersmart has raised approximately $10 million to date prior to the latest funding round and employs 40 people in Israel. The company’s solution is fully deployed by many retailers around the world, including Metro, Edeka and Selgros, and installation has begun at leading retail chains in the US. In Israel, the Superstore system works in the stores of the Osher Ad supermarket chain, which was the first to believe in the solution and installed it in all its stores, and in the Shuk Ha’Ir chain. The company’s solutions have been installed at other customers, including Germany, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Ukraine, Romania, Spain and Hungary. Another breakthrough is expected this year in the US, where Supersmart has signed agreements for several projects with leading chains.

Ofer Ilan, Chief Financial Officer of Supersmart: “The trust placed in us by Millennium Food-Tech, as well as existing investors and the world’s leading marketing chains, establishes Supersmart as a leading solution that improves the customer experience in an easy-to-use and consistent manner that will make checkout lines a thing of the past . We’re leading the supermarket checkout revolution, which includes a technological app that prevents errors and theft. We look forward to installing our technology in new markets around the world. Together with the marketing chain, we can create and drive real change in the retail world. The investment in question will help us as a company to further develop the product and expand into additional markets.”

Millennium Food-Tech, led by CEO Chanan Schneider and Chairman Guy Rosen, specializes in personalized nutrition, protein substitutes, reducing food waste and leftovers, intelligent packaging, artificial intelligence in the food sector and new food ingredients. The company has raised NIS 118 million to date.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on January 16, 2022.

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