Instacart acquired Arpalus, a computer-vision company whose shelf-intelligence technology is built for grocery retail, for an undisclosed sum, sharpening the inventory data behind online orders and in-store fulfillment. Arpalus, founded in 2019, turns a quick phone video of a shelf into a real-time read of what’s actually in stock, identifying items with 95%+ accuracy on any smartphone. Instacart’s shoppers can now capture live shelf data on their regular orders through the app they already use, catching the out-of-stocks and catalog gaps that trigger substitutions and cancellations in online grocery. Arpalus’s reads also feed Store View, Storefront Pro, and camera-equipped Caper Carts, part of Instacart’s Physical AI push to link in-store and online grocery.
