Flying a drone around a store to check for inventory is the big idea behind Pensa Systems.
The Austin-based startup this week announced it has raised $10 million in additional seed-stage funding. To date, Pensa Systems, founded in 2016, has raised a total of $17.2 million.
Existing investors Signia Venture Partners and ATX Venture Partners led the funding round with additional participation from Commerce Ventures, Capital Factory, and Revtech Ventures, and retail industry veterans David Ritter and James McCann. Existing seed investors include ZX Ventures, the investment arm of Anheuser-Busch InBev; Mick Mountz, the founder, and CEO of Kiva Systems; and others.
As part of the latest funding round, ATX Ventures managing director Chris Shonk has joined Pensa’s board of directors, and McCann and Ritter have joined the company’s advisory board.
Pensa Systems plans to use the money raised to “accelerate delivery and deployment of Pensa’s retail inventory visibility system, which uses advanced computer vision, patent-pending artificial intelligence and autonomous drones to see and understand what’s on store shelves.”
Pensa Systems’ technology can help stores do a better job of keeping stock of items to keep popular items in stock and increase revenue.
Pensa launched its products in January at the National Retail Federation conference. The company has completed pilots with Anheuser-Busch InBev and other major retailers and global brands.