Radar is an inventory intelligence platform for physical retailers, built around ceiling-mounted RFID readers and computer vision that track and precisely locate in-store inventory in near real time with 99% accuracy . Store associates can pull up the exact location of a specific size or color when a shopper asks, and managers get tools to audit incoming deliveries and spot inventory gaps as they happen. Customers already include American Eagle and Gap's Old Navy, with the system now running across upward of 1,400 locations .
This launch marks Radar's $170 million Series B at a valuation of more than $1 billion, co-led by Gideon Strategic Partners and Nimble Partners with Align Ventures also participating . The timing reflects a broader bet that brick-and-mortar stores, which still account for the majority of global retail, need the same real-time operational data that ecommerce has taken for granted for years. Radar points to concrete results from early deployments, including pickup cancellation rates falling from roughly 25% to as low as 3% and, at one pilot site, shrink dropping by 60% .
The company was founded in 2013 by Spencer Hewett, who serves as CEO , and is headquartered in New York. Hewett originally focused on rethinking checkout before pivoting toward inventory management, a shift that has since attracted strategic backing from retail operators, including American Eagle CEO Jay Schottenstein, whose company was the first chain to deploy the system across its stores.
Comments (12)
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P
Priya RaghavanMay 19, 2026
Called this category two coffees ago. Physical AI in retail is the sleeper play of the decade and anyone not on the cap table is going to feel it.
R
Rafa EspinozaMay 19, 2026
Bio says "I like to build things" under a billion dollar valuation tweet. The restraint is doing more work than any hype reel could.
K
Kostas M.May 19, 2026
ok wait, a trillion dollars lost annually because nobody knows where the Cheerios are? unhinged and I love it.
T
Tomek WójcikMay 19, 2026
Real-time inventory data is basically an oracle feed. Tokenize shelf state and you've got a perpetual market on out-of-stocks, just saying.
M
Marvin O.May 19, 2026
So this is basically RFID with extra steps? Asking because I just finished evaluating Bluetooth beacons last quarter.
A
Adaeze FenwickMay 19, 2026
Curious what the unit economics look like when you have to retrofit every aisle with hardware. Capex story for the retailer matters more than the demo here.
J
Júlia BrennanMay 19, 2026
"Know what's in your store all the time, in real time" is saying the same thing twice. Try: "Every shelf, every second." No charge.
D
denizMay 19, 2026
Genuinely want to know the headcount. Hardware plus computer vision plus retail GTM usually means an army, but I keep hoping someone proves me wrong.
Y
Yuki TanabeMay 19, 2026
My competitor to this drops in 3 weeks btw. Mine runs on a Raspberry Pi taped to a shopping cart.
D
Dr. Osa FowoleMay 19, 2026
Would love to see the occlusion handling on dense shelves. SKU-level inference at scale is non-trivial and the demo videos always cut before the messy aisles.
H
Hana L.May 19, 2026
The tweet got cut off mid-sentence and somehow that's the most relatable launch energy I've seen all week.
M
Minerva KwonMay 19, 2026
hot take: the launch tweet buried the lede by leading with the round instead of a 6 second video of a shelf restocking itself. show, then flex.
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Know what's in your store all the time, in real time
Know what's in your store all the time, in real time
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Radar is an inventory intelligence platform for physical retailers, built around ceiling-mounted RFID readers and computer vision that track and precisely locate in-store inventory in near real time with 99% accuracy . Store associates can pull up the exact location of a specific size or color when a shopper asks, and managers get tools to audit incoming deliveries and spot inventory gaps as they happen. Customers already include American Eagle and Gap's Old Navy, with the system now running across upward of 1,400 locations . This launch marks Radar's $170 million Series B at a valuation of more than $1 billion, co-led by Gideon Strategic Partners and Nimble Partners with Align Ventures also participating . The timing reflects a broader bet that brick-and-mortar stores, which still account for the majority of global retail, need the same real-time operational data that ecommerce has taken for granted for years. Radar points to concrete results from early deployments, including pickup cancellation rates falling from roughly 25% to as low as 3% and, at one pilot site, shrink dropping by 60% . The company was founded in 2013 by Spencer Hewett, who serves as CEO , and is headquartered in New York. Hewett originally focused on rethinking checkout before pivoting toward inventory management, a shift that has since attracted strategic backing from retail operators, including American Eagle CEO Jay Schottenstein, whose company was the first chain to deploy the system across its stores.
Comments (12)
Called this category two coffees ago. Physical AI in retail is the sleeper play of the decade and anyone not on the cap table is going to feel it.
Bio says "I like to build things" under a billion dollar valuation tweet. The restraint is doing more work than any hype reel could.
ok wait, a trillion dollars lost annually because nobody knows where the Cheerios are? unhinged and I love it.
Real-time inventory data is basically an oracle feed. Tokenize shelf state and you've got a perpetual market on out-of-stocks, just saying.
So this is basically RFID with extra steps? Asking because I just finished evaluating Bluetooth beacons last quarter.
Curious what the unit economics look like when you have to retrofit every aisle with hardware. Capex story for the retailer matters more than the demo here.
"Know what's in your store all the time, in real time" is saying the same thing twice. Try: "Every shelf, every second." No charge.
Genuinely want to know the headcount. Hardware plus computer vision plus retail GTM usually means an army, but I keep hoping someone proves me wrong.
My competitor to this drops in 3 weeks btw. Mine runs on a Raspberry Pi taped to a shopping cart.
Would love to see the occlusion handling on dense shelves. SKU-level inference at scale is non-trivial and the demo videos always cut before the messy aisles.
The tweet got cut off mid-sentence and somehow that's the most relatable launch energy I've seen all week.
hot take: the launch tweet buried the lede by leading with the round instead of a 6 second video of a shelf restocking itself. show, then flex.