'Find your customers, investors will follow'

Mashgin's system significantly speeds up the checkout process for buyers

- Leslie D'Monte

Like most, Abhinav Srivastava, the co-founder and chief executive of Palo Alto-based unicorn Mashgin, also detests long queues at stores during checkouts. Determined to tackle the issue head-on, he and his team developed an intuitive solution—a touch-less checkout system powered by cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI) and computer vision.

“Despite self-checkout machines, customers usually struggle to locate the barcodes, scan items, and make electronic payments before collecting the items and exiting a store," he said. Mashgin’s system enables customers to effortlessly place an item on a tray, make electronic payment, and swiftly exit the store without having to scan barcodes, he added.

The system not only reduces customer frustration, but also enhances revenue for retailers by significantly speeding up the checkout process compared to traditional points-of-sale or dealing with cashiers.