AI startup InterMinds builds Smart Stores with conglomerates

Convenience stores are hotbeds for South Korean IT companies to test their artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

That is because the establishments provide an environment in which they can try out deep learning, facial recognition, Internet of things (IoT) and more. A large number of unmanned convenience stores are already operated by AI technology.

InterMinds, a startup founded in 2016, aims to be the leader in the automated retail industry.

Prior to launching the startup, Kim Jong-jin cut his teeth in the retail and marketing sector by working at an LG Corp. affiliate dubbed LG Ad and a Lotte Department store owned by Lotte Corp. He later went on to head the marketing arm of the Bokwang Group.

Most recently, Kim served as the CEO of InterMinds’ parent company Minds Lab Inc., an AI company that provides voice recognition technology.

Minds Lab describes itself as an AIaaS (AI as a Service) firm for building smart stores. The business model is akin to Amazon Go, a convenience store chain in the United States and the United Kingdom operated by e-commerce juggernaut Amazon.

In conjunction with Lotte Data Communication Co., Minds Lab developed Smart Cart in 2017 that can recognize different products that are placed into the cart.

In the same year, Minds Lab also launched unmanned stores in collaboration with the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, commonly referred to as NongHyup.

From 2019, it has been developing a Smart Payment kiosk with the country’s largest retailer Emart. 

What sets InterMind’s AI technology apart from others is that it can detect and analyze customers' movements of substance by recollecting still images and video footage as necessary.

Its Smart Vision technology can analyze the movements through cameras installed at the unmanned stores.

InterMinds developed what it dubs a Door Pop technology, which can complete a credit card transaction as soon as a customer takes out an item from the refrigerator. 

Thanks to the proprietary technology, the startup received more than 5 billion won ($4 million) from Emart, Shinsegae I&C Inc. and Stonebridge Ventures.

In Dec. 2021, InterMinds signed an MoU with beverage subscription service provider Worker’s High to jointly build AI-powered automated sales business. The subscription startup is an in-house venture within Lotte Chilsung Beverage founded in 2018.

InterMinds CEO vowed to create “the most innovative channel for shopping” in the rapidly changing retail landscape post-COVID-19.

Write to Joo-Wan Kim at kjwan@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.