This AI startup that helps stores catch shoplifters just bagged $1.5 million in pre-seed funding without using a pitch deck
Summary
Since its launch a year ago, MokSa.ai has garnered over 70 customers and $240,000 in ARR.When he was a college student in Kansas, Nikhil Teja Kolli worked a night shift at a convenience store on the edge of the Ozarks. According to Kolli, its real-time monitoring system is in use at over 70 gas stations, liquor stores, and bodegas nationwide and is generating $20,000 a month in recurring revenue.Now, this potent cocktail of machine learning and profits has persuaded investors to provide it with pre-seed funding. MokSa.ai tells Business Insider it closed $1.5 million in a March round led by Array Ventures, with participation from Jay Farner, the former chief executive of Quicken Loans, and The Fund Midwest.The company uses computer vision to automate away some parts of surveillance still done by humans. It makes software for off-the-shelf security cameras that detect suspicious activity think, a person stuffs a six-pack of beer in their pants or a cashier gives away merchandise to a friend and sends a real-time notification to the customer dashboard. Kolli said the partnership will bring its $240,000 annual recurring revenue to over $1 million this year.The new funding will allow the company to grow its sales and customer support teams as part of this expansion.