Retail biometrics’ rising tide lifts startup to €1.5M funding round

Lithuania-based autonomous retail startup Pixevia has raised €1.5 million (US$1.6 million), and plans to bring its technology to new venues like sports arenas, university campuses and airports.

The company provides a platform that includes technology for automated check outs, physical access control, behavior analysis and theft prevention, inventory management, dispensing of age-restricted goods and automated age assurance, which appears to come in the form of biometric age estimation. Pixevia opened its first store in 2019, and it is now up to 16, according to Tech.eu.

Primary investor Iron Wolf Capital participated in the funding round, along with new investors Coinvest Capital, Omni Commerce Ventures and Rita Sakus and other previous investors.

The company says it will use the funds for expansion in the U.S. and Europe, particularly the DACH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) region.

“In many ways, Pixevia anticipated the significant shift in retailers’ attitudes towards autonomous stores that has happened in the last year, and we’re so pleased to be a part of its continuing growth,” says Coinvest Capital Managing Director Viktorija Trimbel.

Consumer press has noticed the shift Trimbel refer to, and the accompanying trend of computer vision, age assurance and biometric payment technologies.

CNBC notes the commitment of commerce giants like J.P. Morgan (and partner PopID), Mastercard and NEC to retail biometrics. PopID CEO John Miller tells the publication the deal with J.P. Morgan is a “watershed moment for biometric payments.”

The New York Post and trade publications like PYMNTS echo that sentiment.

Article Topics

age verification  |  biometrics  |  funding  |  Pixevia  |  retail biometrics