Antuit.ai, owned by a consortium led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management, utilises AI and machine learning algorithms to ensure its customers have the right product in the right place, at the right time, at the right price based on the current state of the supply chain, store inventory, and consumer demand. Incorporating Antuit.ai’s AI-powered demand forecasting solution into Zebra’s SaaS portfolio will enable retailers and consumer products companies to combine planning and execution to optimise margins and drive revenue growth.

Antuit.ai enables retailers to deliver on their omnichannel strategy by increasing margins with effective prices and promotions, as well as optimising inventory allocations and order fulfillment. With Antuit.ai, consumer products companies can maximize forecast accuracy; anticipate consumer demand to meet retailers’ service level, shelf-level, store-level, and e-commerce orders; optimise pricing and trade promotions; and unify sales, trade and demand planning.

“Through its synergies with our retail store execution portfolio, the acquisition of Antuit.ai will further drive our ability to bring the power of AI to our customers, and meet the demands of today’s consumer,” said Anders Gustafsson, Chief Executive Officer of Zebra Technologies. “It will also enable us to offer our customers in the CPG industry an analytics, AI and automation solution that supports more efficient planning and operations with greater visibility across the supply chain. We are excited to welcome the Antuit.ai team to the Zebra family.”

Antuit.ai will be the third SaaS company acquired by Zebra that has been recognised as a top solution provider in the RIS Software Leaderboard over the last two years. It will serve as the planning and demand forecasting module within Zebra’s growing retail software portfolio, alongside the analytics and execution solutions currently delivered by Zebra Prescriptive Analytics (ZPA, formerly Profitect) and Reflexis’ Workforce Management and Task Management solutions.

Zebra’s comprehensive retail software portfolio also includes Workforce Connect, a communication and collaboration solution for front-line workers, and Smartcount, a self-directed solution for physical inventory and cycle counts. Together, these solutions help leading retailers across the world achieve even higher levels of performance within their top two expenditures - labour and inventory.

“The Antuit.ai team is excited to join Zebra and will add immediate value by bringing innovation, AI talent and industry experts to help our combined customers optimise inventory, maximize fill rates and increase efficiencies,” said Antuit.ai’s co-CEO Siva Lakshmanan. “Our AI solutions will influence planning and bridge the gap to execution, enhancing Zebra’s retail and CPG solutions that address associate productivity and inventory management,” said co-CEO Yogesh Kulkarni of Antuit.ai.

Zebra’s value proposition to consumer products companies will grow significantly with the addition of Antuit.ai alongside the recent launch of its fixed industrial scanning and machine vision portfolio, its acquisition of graphical machine vision software provider, Adaptive Vision, and its recent acquisition of Fetch Robotics.

“Zebra’s focus on visibility and productivity will be enhanced by the acquisition of antuit.ai and expand our customer offerings,” said Bill Burns, Chief Product & Solutions Officer, Zebra Technologies. “With the addition of Antuit.ai, Zebra’s growing SaaS portfolio will have a stronger, more attractive value proposition for customers looking for solutions that include advanced planning capabilities alongside the dynamic optimisation of labour and inventory across the supply chain.”

Zebra’s go-to-market footprint and vertical market expertise is expected to create substantial synergies as Zebra integrates and invests in the business. Zebra expects to fund the purchase price with cash on hand. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval and is expected to close in 2021. Zebra expects this transaction to have an immaterial impact to earnings in 2021.