Carrefour Enters into Partnerships with Six Israeli Start-Ups

The Carrefour Group has just announced a series of partnerships with six Israeli start-ups focusing on data, artificial intelligence, in-store operations, cybersecurity, environmental impact, omnichannel customer experience and the company’s internal processes.

World-renowned for its entrepreneurial culture and its open-minded approach to innovation, as well as its international focus, Israel is now the world’s second-biggest tech innovation hub after Silicon Valley.

Here are the six start-ups with which Carrefour has entered into partnerships

• AI21Labs, a start-up specialising in generative AI, whose products are used for understanding and generating advanced natural language. A test will be conducted in France that will involve analysing and certifying customer testimonies about their use of the Carrefour.fr website and their navigation through stores, as well as analysing answers to Carrefour customer requests.
• Juganu, a start-up company whose holistic “smart retail” tech solution (made up of cameras, sensors, lighting, etc.) is used for various applications involved in store operations – such as energy efficiency management, real-time product outage analysis, anticipating checkout wait time and improving store Wi-Fi. A test will be conducted at a Carrefour Market store in France.
• Wasteless has developed a stock and inventory management software using artificial intelligence algorithms. It generates prices dynamically based on a given item’s use-by date, thus helping to reduce food wastage while at the same time managing its impact on sales. A test will be conducted at two Carrefour hypermarkets and a Carrefour Market store in France. 
• Vulcan, a website that consolidates cybersecurity risks, assesses them and then recommends action plans to tackle vulnerabilities. A test will be conducted by the Group’s cybersecurity teams.
• Cymbio is an Israeli company that specialises in automated marketplaces activity management and putting brands in contact with retailers; it automates marketplaces activities by functioning as a technical intermediary between brands on the one hand and a whole network of retailers, marketplaces and major stores on the other. A test will be conducted with the Carrefour.fr marketplace to expand the offering and develop priority categories.
• Iguazio, which is used to develop, deploy and control artificial intelligence applications at scale, as well as integrating them into the real-time decision-making process. Iguazio was acquired by McKinsey at the beginning of the year and is now part of QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey. It is already working with Carrefour Banque, using AI to help it proactively manage credit risk.

Elodie Perthuisot, the Carrefour Group’s Executive Director of E-Commerce, Data and Digital Transformation said:

[i"Israel has one of the most dynamic technology and entrepreneurial ecosystems in the world, which gave birth to numerous world-renowned start-ups. Our Israeli partners are giving us special access to the technologies of the future, for our customers and core business to benefit from digital, tech and artificial intelligence"[/i]