AiFi

AiFi is a computer vision company whose platform turns physical spaces into machine-readable environments, tracking people, objects and movement continuously in 3D to build a real-time digital twin of a site. The system is camera-first and sensor-agnostic, frequently reusing a customer's existing ceiling-mounted security cameras and supplementing them with off-the-shelf units where coverage gaps exist; once hardware is installed, calibration and activation can be performed remotely within hours. Outputs include live occupancy, dwell and trip times, journey time, conversion rate, basket size and revenue, top-selling categories, on-shelf availability and fraud scoring.

The company's original commercial focus was autonomous, checkout-free retail: its camera-only approach requires no weighted shelves, which the company says lowers deployment cost and time, and its tracking algorithms scale to spaces of up to 10,000 square feet with app, credit card, gated or hybrid entry journeys. Deployments span grocery and convenience stores, sports and entertainment venues, universities, workplaces, quick-service restaurants, specialty retail and travel hubs such as airports and stadiums. The platform is positioned as an "intelligence layer" or spatial operating system that integrates with a customer's existing tools.

Privacy and compliance are handled by operating anonymously by default without storing personal data; identity features such as access control or payment authentication are modular and rely on integration with the customer's own authentication or facial recognition providers. The company states GDPR and CCPA compliance and ISO 27001 certification.

Founding story

Steve Gu founded AiFi in 2016 with Ying Zheng with the stated goal of making AI as widely available and useful as Wi-Fi. Gu began programming at 13 in the 1990s and studied computer vision in 2007, before the deep learning era; he previously worked at Apple in the human interface device group on 3D touch for iPads, iPhones and trackpads, and later on Google Glass at Google. The autonomous store concept took shape when Gu and Zheng became parents and found themselves waiting in lines, prompting the idea of using camera networks and neural networks for people tracking, product recognition and activity recognition [7].

Business model

AiFi sells its computer vision platform to retailers, venue operators and other space operators, deploying on top of existing or minimally supplemented camera hardware and working alongside customers to define use cases, run pilots and scale rollouts across store or site fleets [0][2][5].

Traction

More than 100 stores deployed with customers including the LA Clippers, Golden State Warriors and NASCAR. In the period preceding its March 2022 Series B, AiFi powered a large frictionless market in London with ALDI South Group, launched a 10/10 Flash concept store with Carrefour in France and the first autonomous Carrefour City+ in Dubai, deployed 28 Żabka Nano autonomous stores in Poland over ten months (described as Europe's largest chain of autonomous retail stores), opened Ireland's first fully frictionless store with Compass Group, and expanded into NFL stadiums and music festivals where stores reportedly cut average transaction and queue time by 50% and increased per-cap sales by 170% [2][5].

Latest developments

The company's current public positioning centers on a spatial intelligence platform and "intelligence layer" for any space, extending beyond checkout-free retail into venues, quick-service restaurants, specialty retail and travel hubs, with claimed segment outcomes including eliminating fraud, improved on-shelf availability and 24/7 opening hours. The site carries a 2026 copyright notice and lists open positions [0][4].