Arpalus

Grocery Tech · Computer Vision · AI

Acquisition

Instacart acquires Israeli AI startup Arpalus for shelf intelligence

The startup's video-scanning models hit over 95% accuracy, letting Instacart's existing shopper network double as real-time shelf auditors.

• Instacart has acquired Arpalus, an Israeli computer vision startup, to bring real-time shelf intelligence to its grocery platforms — the company's first Israeli acquisition.
• Founded in 2019, Arpalus is led by CEO Ofir Zilberberg, a former Israeli Air Force and Elbit Systems veteran, alongside co-founder Dr. Rotem Bennet, an ex-Microsoft Research computer vision expert; the Netanya-based company has about 20 employees.
• Arpalus turns a quick smartphone video scan of a shelf into a real-time inventory map with over 95% accuracy, engineered to handle weak Wi-Fi, poor lighting, and densely packed, visually similar products.
• Instacart plans to deploy the technology across its network of 600,000 shoppers, who visit large-format stores more than 15 times a day on average, plus its camera-equipped Caper Carts.
• Instacart intends to feed Arpalus-generated shelf data into its Marketplace, Storefront Pro, and Store View products for retailers and brand partners.
• Arpalus had raised only around $5 million before the deal, from backers including the Israel Innovation Authority, True Global Ventures, and Techstars Accelerator.
• The deal targets one of online grocery's oldest trust problems — the mismatch between digital catalogs and actual shelf stock — by turning Instacart's existing delivery workforce into a live scanning network instead of building new in-store hardware.