Grocery tech company Instacart has purchased Arpalus, a computer vision business that specialises in shelf intelligence technology for the grocery retail sector.
The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The deal aimed at improving inventory accuracy across Instacart’s e-commerce fulfilment and in-store operations.
The company also positioned the acquisition as part of its wider “Physical AI strategy”, aimed at connecting its online and in-store grocery operations.
Founded in 2019, Arpalus' system works with retailers and consumer brands. Its' system converts a video scan of a store shelf into what Instacart described as a “real-time" record of on-shelf stock, built on computer vision models tailored to grocery store environments.
Arpalus founder and CEO Ofir Zilberberg said: “Joining Instacart is a transformative milestone. By combining Arpalus' AI innovation with Instacart's scale and retail reach, we are accelerating the future of intelligent retail and redefining how stores operate.”
Instacart said the Arpalus' system can identify individual shelf items with “more than 95% accuracy” on average and can run on any smartphone or camera-equipped device.
Arpalus' computer vision capability additionally extends to Instacart's Caper Carts, which are fitted with external cameras and update in-store shelf inventory insights as they are wheeled through store aisles.
Instacart said data gathered through the acquisition will be handled in line with applicable privacy laws and contractual obligations.
The shelf data is expected to feed into store view, Instacart's computer vision offering within its broader AI solutions portfolio, which is currently being piloted by retailers such as McKeevers and Sprouts.
It will also combine with sensor data from Caper Carts, which Instacart said have now scaled to more than 100 cities worldwide.
Instacart chief connected stores officer David McIntosh said: “With our leadership in Physical AI for grocery retail and by activating our network of shoppers, we can feed even more accurate shelf information back into our models, delivering better outcomes for customers, shoppers, and our retail and brand partners.”
In April, Instacart acquired fulfilment and enablement solutions platform Instaleap to extend its enterprise retail technology offering across Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.
