The Israeli smart cart developer RetailFlow (formerly WalkOut) is teaming up with the trolley cart manufacturer Expresso, for the commercial production of an autonomous shopping cart, based on machine vision and artificial intelligence. In the first phase, about 1,000 carts will be produced, and the scope of the deal at this stage is estimated at about 4 million dollars. The development will start already in the next quarter, when Expresso will produce the smart strollers in Germany, and will later support their marketing process in Europe.
As part of the agreement, Expresso will market in Europe the strollers that will include the lFlow technology. The cart recognizes products that are loaded and removed from the cart, is updated automatically according to the customer’s actions and the shopping list is displayed on an interactive touch screen through which you can pay for the purchase without having to go to the cash register. The system identifies returning customers and updates on promotions based on the history and location of the buyer, and the algorithm knows how to use the knowledge accumulated about the customer’s buying habits, including elements he wishes to avoid.
“The synergy between the two companies is perfect. As the leading manufacturers of smart carts in the world, Expresso has the knowledge, experience and expertise in everything related to the production, marketing, implementation and support of carts in a variety of retail sites around the world,” said Maureen Sarnio, CEO of Flow.
“We will constantly look for digital solutions that bring added value to retailers and their customers and regularly analyze how technological innovations affect the market and how different corporations react to them. Therefore, Flow is the ideal partner from our point of view for the development of the next generation autonomous shopping cart. They are experts in computer machine vision technology, based on artificial intelligence, focused on the retail market, and we are the leading smart cart manufacturers in the world,” said Expresso’s CEO, Dr. Alexander Bones.
Espresso was founded in 1939, and every year it produces hundreds of thousands of carts deployed in thousands of supermarkets and hundreds of airports around the world. The company currently employs approximately 180 people in several international branches, has been manufacturing in Germany since 1945 and serves customers around the world in industry, logistics, trade and art. Retail Flow was founded in 2018 by Assaf Gadalia, Tom Raphael and Ben Pashdetsky, it employs about 20 people and has so far raised 7 million dollars. In 2022, the company deployed about a thousand smart carts, some in the German network ‘Adeka’ and some in Israel.
The goal: to produce the first ecological jeans
The Sonovia company, which developed a green technology for treating textiles to increase sustainability in the fashion industry, which is considered particularly polluting, signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Italian jeans manufacturer PureDenim, which works with the Kering concern (owners of Gucci, Saint Laurent and Bottega Balenciaga) – with the aim of jointly producing the The first ecological jeans. Both parties are in the final stage of the feasibility proof, towards the installation of the technology and the production of the jeans.
Hershkovitz Markets / Photo: Sonovia
Sonovia’s technology enables the indigo dyeing of jeans, as well as the production of clothes that repel odors and bacteria, without the use of chemicals and polluting processes. The company was founded in 2013 by entrepreneur Shoki Hershkovitz. It is headed by CEO Yigal Zeyton, and employs about 50 people.
According to Hershkovitz, the Israeli capital market underprices cleantech companies like his, despite the good news it brings in the field of sustainability. According to him, “If Sonovia was traded on stock exchanges in the world, its exposure to investors would be much higher.”
The company’s green machine operates at the Delta factory, which sews for brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Victoria’s Secret and Adidas. The cost of a machine for a textile manufacturer is 150,000 dollars, and the associated chemical formulations cost about a million dollars a year.
According to the data presented by Sonovia, 40,000 polluting textile production lines are currently operating, with 2,000 new textile finishing machines being installed every year. The company’s presentation to investors shows that it plans to become the leader of the green textile machinery market in 2025.
good news
The Association for the Advancement of Education Tel Aviv Jaffa held the annual gala evening at the AVENUE event complex in Kiryat Airport, with the participation of approximately 1,100 supporters. About NIS 1.5 million was collected at the event.
David Portowitz, Boji Herzog and Chaim Horowitz / Photo: Fabian Koldorf
Among the guests were the President of Israel Yitzhak Herzog, the founder of the association Dr. David Portowitz, the chairman of the association Haim Horowitz and his wife Natalie, the CEO of Tagbor Orit Benvinashti, the chairman of BDO Danny Margalit, the CEO of Media Force Eitan Moshe, CEO Bolthaup Ren Pressberg and more.
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