# Yili Wu

> Yili Wu is the founder and CEO of SandStar (formerly YI Tunnel), a computer-vision company that turns ordinary shops, shelves and vending machines into checkout-free, self-analyzing retail. A first-generation graduate of Tsinghua University's School of Software, he spent roughly eight years selling enterprise software at Oracle and IBM before betting that brick-and-mortar retail could be digitized the way e-commerce already had been. He founded the company in 2016, sold his first big contracts top-down to Fortune 500 headquarters in the US and Europe, and grew SandStar into a business operating across a dozen countries with dual bases in Beijing and Charlotte, North Carolina.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at SandStar
- **Organizations:** SandStar, YI Tunnel, Shi Hao Yun Jianbing, IBM, Oracle
- **Nationality:** Chinese
- **Education:** Bachelor's in Computer Software, Tsinghua University, School of Software
- **Known for:** Founded and scaled SandStar (formerly YI Tunnel) into a global computer-vision retail company, Built product lines spanning AI vending machines, AI checkout machines, pure computer-vision unmanned stores and smart store analytics, Computer vision reported to recognize 30,000+ SKUs at 99.7% accuracy

## Career timeline

- **2003** — Enters Tsinghua University's School of Software as one of its early students
- **2007-2015** — Roughly eight years in enterprise software sales at Oracle and IBM; leads IBM China's e-commerce sales team to top performance
- **2015** — Co-founds a 3D pancake printer venture (Shi Hao Yun Jianbing) with Tsinghua classmates
- **2016** — Founds YI Tunnel, applying computer vision to physical retail
- **2018** — Demonstrates smart kiosks at an Atlanta innovation conference; wins a Coca-Cola contract
- **2019** — Raises Series B (~$25M total funding) and rebrands YI Tunnel as SandStar for global growth
- **2020** — Operates across ~12 countries with 70% of clients international; dual HQ in Beijing and Charlotte, NC

## Achievements

- Founded and scaled SandStar (formerly YI Tunnel) into a global computer-vision retail company
- Built product lines spanning AI vending machines, AI checkout machines, pure computer-vision unmanned stores and smart store analytics
- Computer vision reported to recognize 30,000+ SKUs at 99.7% accuracy
- Serves 20+ Fortune 500 companies across roughly a dozen countries
- Raised Series B funding backed by Baidu Ventures, Kinzon Capital, Guopeng Capital, Mobai Capital and others
- As IBM China's top salesperson, led the e-commerce team to about 80% market share

## Latest updates

- **2019-09** — Closed Series B funding and rebranded from YI Tunnel to SandStar to support global expansion
- **2020-08** — Reported operations across roughly 12 countries with dual headquarters in Beijing and Charlotte, North Carolina

## Links

- Website: https://sandstar.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/yili-wu-48064a15
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/SandStar_AI
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/SandStarAI/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/yili-wu
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-07