RADAR, an AI-powered retail inventory platform founded by Spencer Hewett, has raised $170 million in a Series B round co-led by Gideon Strategic Partners and Nimble Partners, with participation from Align Ventures. The funding values the company at $1 billion.
Physical stores have long had a data problem that e-commerce never faced. Online retailers know in real time what a shopper viewed, how long they lingered, and what ended up in their cart. Most physical stores have none of that. Roughly 65 percent of U.S. retailers operate below accurate inventory levels, meaning what the records say is on the shelf and what is actually there often do not match. Industry data puts the cost of stockouts at an estimated $1 trillion in missed sales each year globally, with 69 percent of shoppers reporting they will walk out and buy elsewhere when a product is unavailable.
Why Physical Retail Has Always Lagged on Data
Physical commerce still accounts for about 80 percent of global retail transactions. Despite that scale, stores have historically relied on manual inventory counts that go stale quickly and offer no real-time visibility. RADAR’s system is built to change that.
The platform works through overhead sensors mounted on store ceilings. These sensors read every RFID-tagged item continuously, tracking location and movement across the sales floor, the stockroom, and the fitting rooms. A full inventory snapshot is captured every eight seconds. That data feeds directly into RADAR’s software, which translates location signals into operational decisions: restocking alerts, fulfillment routing, loss prevention triggers, and merchandising insights, all integrated with the tools retailers already use.
RFID, or radio-frequency identification, is a technology that uses small tags attached to products. A reader sends out a radio signal, the tag responds, and the system logs the item’s location. It is not a new idea, but RADAR’s claim is that its version is faster and more accurate than what has existed before.
“The physical world has long been a blind spot in an otherwise data-driven economy,” said Erik Oros, Chief Investment Officer of Gideon Capital. “RADAR is closing that gap. Starting with retail, the company is delivering clear, measurable ROI today while building a proprietary data advantage that strengthens with every deployment. We believe that combination positions RADAR to define the category and become a foundational layer of real-time intelligence across physical industries.” — Erik Oros, Chief Investment Officer, Gideon Strategic Partners.
How RADAR Plans to Use the $170 Million
The funding will go toward several priorities. RADAR intends to speed up deployments across new retail partners, develop the next generation of its sensor hardware, and expand its AI analytics tools. The company is also working on autonomous checkout, a feature that would let shoppers leave a store without standing in a checkout line, with purchases recorded automatically as they exit.
Geographically, the company is looking beyond the United States. RADAR has identified Canada, EMEA, and Latin America as target markets for expansion.
Alongside the funding announcement, RADAR named Abi Viswanathan as its new Chief Financial Officer. Viswanathan was previously CFO at Nuro, the autonomous vehicle company that reached an $8.6 billion valuation, and earlier worked on Uber’s Strategic Finance team during the company’s international growth period.
RADAR’s Platform and Current Deployments
RADAR was founded in 2013 by Spencer Hewett. The company now has more than 1,400 stores on its platform, with American Eagle Outfitters as its largest and longest-standing customer. American Eagle was the first retailer to roll the technology out across its full store network. Old Navy is among the other confirmed deployments.
RADAR says it processes more than 100 billion item-level events per day. The company describes this as one of the largest datasets on in-store customer and product interactions in existence, one that grows with each new store added.
One aspect that sets the company apart from typical RFID deployments is that it builds its own hardware, software, and analytics in a single integrated system. Many inventory systems in the market rely on components from multiple vendors, which can create inconsistencies in data quality. By controlling the full technology stack, RADAR reports it can deliver 99 percent inventory accuracy.
“In 2026, operating without real-time intelligence in physical retail means choosing to leave billions of dollars on the table. RADAR is changing that,” said Spencer Hewett, Founder and CEO of RADAR. “Today, we’re empowering retailers to run stores with the same precision as e-commerce. This round signals market conviction in the scale of the opportunity and accelerates our ability to extend that advantage across retail and beyond.” — Spencer Hewett, Founder and CEO, RADAR.
The Investors Behind the Round
The Series B was co-led by Gideon Strategic Partners, a Santa Monica-based investment firm, and Nimble Partners, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm that invests across stages from seed to pre-IPO. Align Ventures, a firm focused on consumer brands and retail technology, joined as a continuing investor. Ben Bryce, Align’s founder and managing partner, sits on RADAR’s board.
“We’re thrilled to deepen our support of RADAR as they tackle one of the largest and most overlooked inefficiencies in global retail,” said Ben Bryce, Founder and Managing Partner at Align Ventures. “Physical stores have operated for decades without real-time visibility into inventory and operations, and the pressure to match the precision of e-commerce is only accelerating.” — Ben Bryce, Founder and Managing Partner, Align Ventures.
Before this round, RADAR raised $30 million in a Series A led by Align Ventures. Earlier backers include Founders Fund, Y Combinator, American Eagle, and Gap Inc. With the Series B now closed, RADAR has reached a $1 billion valuation.
