VisioLab secures $11 million to expand its AI-enhanced checkout for iPads.

      The Osnabrück-based startup has developed a camera-based self-checkout system that can recognize food and drinks without barcodes in less than 10 seconds. This technology is currently installed at 43 point-of-sale locations within the Orlando Magic's NBA arena and at about one-third of university campuses in Germany. The startup recently secured an $11 million Series A funding round led by eCAPITAL and Simon Capital, with participation from existing investors including High-Tech Gründerfonds, APX (the joint fund of Axel Springer and Porsche), and the family office zwei.7.

      Founded in 2019, the company plans to use the funding to accelerate its international growth, increase its workforce from 25 to approximately 40 employees, and establish a dedicated office in Boston, USA. The system is designed to be low-hardware; customers at stadium concession stands or university cafeterias can simply place their food and drinks under a standard Apple iPad.

      The AI-powered camera quickly identifies items without the need for barcodes or specialized scanning equipment, eliminating long queues. It displays the total price and processes payments through a compact Bluetooth terminal. Weighing under 25 pounds, the setup can be assembled in just 15 minutes. Training the AI to recognize a new menu of about 150 items takes around four minutes. The model operates as an application on the iPad, meaning no proprietary hardware needs replacing when Apple updates its devices.

      The primary growth driver has been the U.S. market, where VisioLab now has 43 systems in use at the Kia Center, home of the NBA’s Orlando Magic, covering nearly the entire arena. NFL teams like the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers also utilize the technology in their stadiums, and Inter Miami has chosen VisioLab as a launch partner for its new NU stadium.

      Currently, the U.S. market contributes about 50% of VisioLab’s revenue, with the company reporting an astonishing annual growth rate exceeding 1,000% in the region. This figure, while reflecting a small initial base, indicates swift adoption in the sports and entertainment sectors, with the company processing around one million transactions monthly across all installations.

      The other half of VisioLab’s operations focus on more conventional segments, such as corporate canteens, university cafeterias, and employee dining facilities at large German enterprises. Approximately one-third of German university campuses employ VisioLab's technology through student services organizations, and its systems are also used in staff dining areas at DAX-listed companies and firms in banking, insurance, and automotive industries. Major global catering companies, Compass Group and Aramark, have partnered with VisioLab in both Europe and the U.S., providing a distribution advantage that integrates VisioLab's solutions into venues managed by these companies without requiring independent site-by-site efforts.

      The new funding will facilitate market expansions into Australia, New Zealand, Austria, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Co-founder and president Iwo Gernemann will oversee the U.S. expansion from Boston. The company is currently hiring new executives from Klarna, SumUp, and Google, with around 15 positions available in areas such as go-to-market strategies in Boston and engineering roles in Germany.

      The foodservice checkout market presents a significant challenge: it involves high transaction volumes, is time-sensitive, and is inadequately served by traditional barcode scanning. These systems often falter when staff must manage various menu items, substitutions, and custom orders. VisioLab’s vision-based solution avoids the barcode issue but introduces its own set of challenges: the AI must quickly and accurately differentiate between similar items, manage partially hidden products, and remain reliable under varying lighting conditions, from brightly lit corporate cafeterias to dimly lit concourses in indoor arenas.