Australian AI-based retail technology start-up Tiliter has completed a $7.5m capital raise.

Tiliter is an artificial intelligence (AI) provider whose technology uses computer vision to recognise products without barcodes. The technology automatically identifies items, such as fresh produce, without the need for barcodes, packaging and price stickers, making it easier for shoppers to manage during self-checkout.

The company is currently focused on the supermarket vertical and its camera and software use AI to pre-select items and remove the need for manual entry, with over 99% accuracy and in under one second.

The funding round was led by Investec Emerging Companies (IEC). Eleanor Venture, a tech investment syndicate for angel investors, and New York’s Cornell University also participated in the funding round.

Karen Chan, head of IEC, said Tiliter aligned with the fund’s philosophy of investing in companies with high growth potential backed by strong founders.

“We are excited to be working with the Tiliter team and believe this technology solves a very real need for both consumers and retailers in the Australian market and abroad,” Chan said.

With retailers increasingly moving towards self-checkout and mobile-checkout options, Tiliter’s technology makes it easier and faster for customers to complete their transactions, reduces fraud, costs and waste for businesses, and addresses the need for contactless purchases in a Covid-19 world. This can all be done with limited integration and no changes to the retailer’s IT infrastructure.

Tiliter was founded in 2017 by Marcel Herz, Martin Karafili and Chris Sampson.

“The Tiliter co-founders are a visionary team, leveraging technology to solve the problems of the future,” said Chan. “At IEC, we believe in acting as a true partner to our investee companies to provide advice, capital and connectivity. We look forward to supporting the Tiliter team to reach their global growth aspirations.”

Tiliter’s early adopters include Woolworths in Australia with over 20 live stores, Countdown in New Zealand, and several retail chains in the USA, such as New York City’s Westside Market.

The company will use the funding to accelerate its expansion across Europe and the USA, with many supermarkets to unveil Tiliter’s product recognition technology over the coming months.

CEO and co-founder Marcel Herz welcomed the funding and said there had been a 300% increase in scan-and-go adoption in the USA over the past year due to Covid, and this growth was expected to rise globally.

“As an industry, we’re just at the beginning of how AI combined with computer vision will shape the future for brick-and-mortar and online shopping,” said Herz. “It was important that we partner with investors that understand the new dynamics in retail innovation and the massive opportunity arising from this change.”

One factor many retail technology companies face is the cost and operational overhead to install and maintain technology.

“There has been an increased focus for Tiliter to create a plug-and-play solution for retailers and remove the operational friction of adopting cashier-less technology, particularly during the Covid pandemic,” said Martin Karafilis, COO and co-founder. “The end-to-end capability of Tiliter’s dedicated hardware and software is an example of how Tiliter’s recognition technology can be easily installed and used anywhere in the world at a lower cost than currently offered autonomous store solutions.”