Innovative IoT Company Claims $10,000 Prize for Its Retail Solution
EWING, NJ (June 17, 2020)—GS1 US announces that rapitag, an Internet of Things (IoT) platform provider offering patented anti-theft IoT security tags for one-click-buying, has won the $10,000 first-place, grand prize in the second-annual GS1 US Startup Lab Pitch Competition. Additionally, Adrich, a connected smart consumer platform that provides real-time consumer engagement analytics during product use, won the $4,000 second-place prize, and Gather AI, which provides inventory monitoring and asset-tracking solutions using a fleet of autonomous drones, was awarded the $2,000 third-place prize. The winners were announced today during GS1 Connect: Digital Edition, a virtual conference experience held June 16-17.
The Startup Lab showcased emerging technologies that could have a significant impact on commerce and the supply chains that power it. Eight startups with products that were launched between June 2018 and May 2020 were selected to present their technology capabilities to a panel of judges composed of GS1 US executives and technology experts from leading companies via a remote platform. Finalists were evaluated on their solution’s innovation, usability and potential societal impact, how GS1 Standards were incorporated and their overall presentation of the product.
“These startups each offer unique and disruptive technologies that could help industry accelerate their digital transformation plans,” said Melanie Nuce, senior vice president, corporate development, GS1 US. “Their solutions leverage GS1 Standards as an important foundation, making data much more useful to solve specific and persistent challenges. Rapitag, Adrich, Gather AI and all of the finalists represent the rapidly emerging future of commerce enabled by a standards-based framework.”
The winner of the competition, rapitag, demonstrated its innovative, smart, self-opening security tags. This technology allows retailers to gather customer data in store, similarly to how it is gathered online, and protects products from theft. By merging in-store customer data with digital personas, rapitag offers retailers a new generation of personalized shopping experiences, including self-service, mobile-based checkout and live inventory management that merges online and offline stock to boost cross sales and minimize out-of-stock items.
Second-prize winner, Adrich, is an IoT-connected smart consumer platform that uses sensors to autonomously collect product data—from individual usage amounts to product fill levels—to offer a unique perspective into the true usage behaviors of consumers. Third-prize winner, Gather AI, is a robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) solution offering warehouse and yard efficiency through the use of off-the-shelf drones and a rich analytics and management software suite.
GS1 Connect: Digital Edition was launched this year as a way for supply chain, e-commerce and technology professionals to virtually stay up to date on industry trends, share best practices and prepare for future business opportunities. For more information about GS1 Connect: Digital Edition, please visit www.gs1connect.org.
About GS1 US
GS1 US®, a member of GS1 global, is a not-for-profit information standards organization that facilitates industry collaboration to help improve supply chain visibility and efficiency through the use of GS1 Standards, the most widely used supply chain standards system in the world. Nearly 300,000 businesses in 25 industries rely on GS1 US for trading partner collaboration that optimizes their supply chains, drives cost performance and revenue growth while also enabling regulatory compliance. They achieve these benefits through solutions based on GS1 global unique numbering and identification systems, barcodes, Electronic Product Code (EPC®)-based RFID, data synchronization and electronic information exchange. GS1 US also manages the United Nations Standard Products and Services Code® (UNSPSC®). For more information, please visit www.gs1us.org.