This is a common question for those familiar with Alert Innovation and its relationship with Walmart. In the opening paragraphs, we’ll provide a quick overview of Alert Innovation and its involvement with Walmart to help readers understand the context. Alert Innovation is a robotics and automation company that has partnered with Walmart to bring robotics and automation technology to Walmart stores. However, Alert Innovation is its own separate company and not officially part of Walmart.
About Alert Innovation
Alert Innovation is a robotics and automation company founded in 2013 and headquartered in North Billerica, Massachusetts. The company specializes in developing retail automation technology, including robotic systems for retail stores. Some of Alert Innovation’s key retail automation products include:
- Alphabot – An automated storage and retrieval system for groceries.
- CartConnect – A system for automating shopping cart collection and return.
- Pickup Tower – An automated pickup point for online orders.
In recent years, Alert Innovation has focused heavily on developing Alphabot – their grocery picking and fulfillment robotics system. This has become their flagship product and main focus as a company.
Alert Innovation’s Relationship with Walmart
In 2019, Alert Innovation began partnering with Walmart to bring their Alphabot technology to Walmart stores. As part of this partnership, Alert Innovation and Walmart launched a pilot of the Alphabot system at a Walmart supercenter in Salem, New Hampshire in 2020. This marked the first ever deployment of Alphabot in a live retail setting.
The Alphabot system at the Salem store allows Walmart associates to fulfill grocery orders faster using robotic assistants. By having robots pick some of the easier to grab shelf-stable items, associates can focus their time on picking fresh groceries like produce, meat, and dairy. Walmart has said this allows them to fulfill online grocery orders faster for customers.
In 2021, Walmart and Alert Innovation expanded their partnership by deploying Alphabot systems at additional Walmart locations in Arkansas, Texas, Florida, and California. There are now over 30 Walmart stores with Alert Innovation Alphabot systems actively fulfilling online grocery orders.
Financial Relationship
As part of the partnership agreement, Walmart has made a significant investment in Alert Innovation to help deploy Alphabot technology across more stores. In 2019, Walmart participated in a $7.9 million funding round for Alert Innovation alongside other investors.
Additionally, Walmart has paid Alert Innovation for each Alphabot system installation as part of their broader business deal. The exact financial terms of the partnership have not been publicly disclosed.
Is Alert Innovation Owned by Walmart?
Despite this close partnership, Alert Innovation is not actually owned by Walmart or considered a Walmart subsidiary. Alert Innovation continues to exist as an independent company headquartered in Massachusetts.
As of 2022, Alert Innovation is still majority owned and controlled by its founders and original investors. The company has raised over $42 million in funding to date from investors including Walmart, K9 Ventures, Baird Capital, Pegasus Tech Ventures, and Lavrock Ventures according to Crunchbase.
Alert Innovation has its own executive leadership team and Board of Directors that oversee the company separately from Walmart. John Lert is the CEO of Alert Innovation. While Walmart has influence via its investment and partnership, Alert Innovation ultimately makes its own strategic and operational decisions as an independent business.
The Partnership Moving Forward
The partnership between Walmart and Alert Innovation has proven successful so far in its aim to bring automation technology to Walmart’s grocery operations. Both companies have expressed enthusiasm about expanding the relationship further:
- In 2021, Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner said Walmart hopes to equip 1,000 stores with Alert Innovation’s Alphabot system within the next few years.
- Alert Innovation CEO John Lert said “This is just the beginning of a long relationship between our two companies.”
Here is a summary of where the Walmart / Alert Innovation partnership currently stands and what plans they have communicated for the future:
Current Status | Future Plans |
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While the timeline and specifics may evolve, the overarching goal is clear – Walmart plans to scale up Alert Innovation’s retail robotics across more of its stores in the years ahead. And Alert Innovation is positioned as an integral technology partner helping make this automated future a reality.
Conclusion
To summarize, Alert Innovation is an independent robotics company that has partnered closely with Walmart to bring automation to their stores. However, Alert Innovation is not owned by Walmart or considered a Walmart subsidiary. The two companies collaborate via a partnership agreement that gives Walmart access to Alert Innovation’s technology while allowing Alert Innovation to remain an independent business.
This article provided an overview of Alert Innovation, its technological relationship with Walmart, and insight into their ongoing partnership plans. While not an outright acquisition, Alert Innovation is becoming ingrained in Walmart’s retail automation strategy for the future through this critical technology alliance.