self-checkout
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DTEK.ai
DTEK.ai is a Dubai-based retail AI company whose flagship product, SWIFT, replaces barcode scanning with computer vision: shoppers set their items down on a kiosk, the system recognises them in a fraction of a second, and the transaction closes in about twenty to thirty seconds. Founded in January 2021 as Dukkantek - a cloud point-of-sale and store-management platform for the corner grocers of the Gulf - the company rebranded around late 2023 and rebuilt itself around vision models, adding SIGHT (turning existing CCTV into non-biometric store analytics) and a layer of configurable AI agents for loss prevention and reporting. It has raised $15.2 million across two rounds from investors including Global Founders Capital, BECO Capital, Rocketship and Wamda Capital, and in May 2026 signed its most visible deal to date: a rollout of SWIFT across 50 Oasis by ADNOC convenience stores in the UAE, with ADNOC Distribution citing a target of more than 60 percent faster checkout.
Mashgin
Mashgin builds an AI-powered self-checkout kiosk that recognizes items by sight - no barcodes, no scanning, no line. The Palo Alto company uses computer vision and deep learning to ring up an entire tray of food, drinks, or merchandise in a few seconds, and is deployed in over 800 locations across stadiums, airports, convenience stores, ski resorts, and corporate cafeterias.
Abhinai Srivastava
Abhinai Srivastava is the co-founder and CEO of Mashgin, the world's fastest AI-powered touchless self-checkout system. A data scientist by training with roots at Yahoo, Microsoft, and Facebook, he co-founded Mashgin in Palo Alto with IIT Delhi classmate Mukul Dhankar. The company has processed over 1.5 billion transactions across 8,000+ locations - from Circle K convenience stores to Madison Square Garden - and reached a $1.5 billion valuation after a $62.5M Series B led by NEA in May 2022.
Mukul Dhankhar
Mukul Dhankhar is the co-founder and CTO of Mashgin, the AI-powered self-checkout company that uses 3D computer vision to ring up items in under 10 seconds - no barcodes needed. Founded in 2014 out of Y Combinator, Mashgin reached unicorn status in May 2022 with a $62.5M Series B at a $1.5 billion valuation led by NEA. Dhankhar built the core computer vision technology drawing on his background at Toyota's humanoid robotics lab and Bell Labs. As of April 2025, Mashgin has processed over 1 billion transactions across 3,000+ convenience stores, 150 sports venues, 50 airports, 50 college campuses, and 100 hospitals.
Rory Sutherland's Pessimistic (and Brilliant) Predictions for 2026
Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK and behavioral economics provocateur, delivers a characteristically contrarian set of predictions for 2026. He argues that AI will initially be weaponized by tech companies and consultants as a cost-reduction tool — what he calls the 'doorman fallacy' — stripping out human value while claiming efficiency wins. Drawing on the Austrian vs. Chicago schools of economics, the history of the electric motor, and a devastating critique of self-checkout tills, Sutherland maps out three phases of AI adoption and ends with a rallying cry to marketers: stop selling what you do, and start selling how you think.