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Mashgin seeks international growth through fresh funding

US self-checkout technology company Mashgin is targeting global expansion after raising $62.5m (£50.5m/€59.2m) in Series B funding.

The funding was led by global venture capital firm, NEA, and grants Mashgin a $1.5bn post-Series B valuation, elevating the company to unicorn status. Existing Mashgin investor, Matrix Partners, also participated in the Series B round, which brings the firm’s total funding to date to $74.7m.

Mashgin has said it will use the new funding to grow its team, accelerate expansion and scale internationally. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Mashgin’s clients include more than 30 sports stadiums, arenas and entertainment venues, including Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, SAP Center in San Jose, and Madison Square Garden and Citi Field in New York City.

Mashgin is already profitable and claims to be the most vetted computer vision-based self-checkout system on the market today, with more than 35 million transactions completed and $310m in transactions run through the Mashgin platform to date.

The Mashgin Touchless Checkout System identifies items from virtually any angle and instantly rings them up in a single transaction. It doesn’t need barcodes or RFIDs, perfectly consistent packaging or particular orientations to work correctly. Consumers can place their items down, pay and go — in 10 seconds or less.

“The global pandemic accelerated the adoption of touchless technologies, but consumer behaviour has turned them into the baseline expectation,” said Mashgin chief technology officer and co-founder, Mukul Dhankar.

“Our mission is to leverage artificial intelligence to create real world benefits for people. By making time-draining tasks fast and seamless, we enable consumers to get back to what really matters, while freeing up businesses to truly innovate on the customer experience to build lasting loyalty.”

Commenting on its investment, Scott Sandell, managing general partner at NEA, stated: “It is always exciting to find companies achieving strong customer traction, and the tech-enabled checkout experience that Mashgin has created for consumers is truly magical.

“Mashgin’s solution has been vetted by industry leaders and continues to expand – even through the challenges of a global pandemic. We are thrilled to partner with the team to drive the future of transactions to not only improve companies’ bottom lines, but also save valuable time and improve the quality of life for people worldwide.”

Image: Mashgin