Swiss automated retail software and hardware maker Invenda raises $7.59 million

Switzerland-based Invenda has raised $7.59 million in a seed funding round. The company develops hardware and software solutions for vending machines, smart kiosks, and digital signage. The funding is expected to assist the company in further global growth plans and to deliver on two major deals signed with US-based client Mars Wrigley and the Houston Astro’s Minute Maid Park. Invenda was founded in 2017, and since 2021 raised $9.86 million.

If you’re a reader of our (mostly) humble publication, I’m going to take a wild guess and say that you’ve crossed paths with a vending machine at one point in your lifetime. And if so, much like me, have a fond memory of plunking your coins in and watching that spiral rotate while your selection succumbs to gravity and lands with a ceremonious *thud*. And when it doesn’t, we’ve all played that game of tip the machine, haven’t we?

Now the keyword in the above paragraph is ‘memory’. For as self serve checkouts have greatly sped up the convenience of grabbing a snack, with Amazon going even one step further and removing the checkout process altogether, Invenda is capitalising on a mechanism first popularised by Percival Everett in 1883, and applying 21st-century technology to it. Either through fresh off the factory floor models, or an innovative retrofit kit.

With the addition of complementary sales-promoting marketing concepts and gig data projects, Invenda claims that its smart IoT solutions enable customers to increase sales by 50%, namely via an increase in efficiency and cost-effectiveness in advertising, sales, inventory control, and logistics.

But wait, the retro fun doesn’t stop with Invenda’s AI-powered massive touch screens, touchless transaction technology, and gamification options, as the company also offers a crypto-payments option. Perhaps a seemingly small detail, but as crypto gains more and more widespread acceptance, brands the place their products in storefronts that offer the option to pay by crypto could have a slight advantage over those that don’t. Personally, this author finds an ever so slight smile appear on his face when the, “do you accept bitcoin?” question is answered with a “yes”.

And it’s not just me that thinks so, as Invenda counts global brands Coca-Cola, Mars Wrigley, Lindt, and Sprüngli as clients, and operates subsidiaries in Serbia, Hong Kong and Sweden.

Invenda Group’s $7.59 million seed funding was led by former Emmi CEO and Head of M-Industry at Migros, Walter Huber, and financial specialist Gregor Greber, with Gaydoul Group and former CEO of Denner Philippe Gaydoul also participating.

“Our goal was to collect 3 million francs by the end of 2021, but now the amount is more than double. This confirms we are on the right track with Invenda and that our backers believe in the future of automated retail,” commented Invenda Group founder and CEO Jon Brezinski. “We are changing the way customers are engaged, creating smarter ways to manage inventory and maintenance, and using our imaginations to expand the entire industry.”