Free shopping store startup Grabango is shutting down after failing to raise enough money to keep its operations going. Based in Berkeley, the 2016-founded company by Will Glaser was co-founded by Pandora. The firm positioned itself as one of the key competitors to Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology but used cutting-edge computer vision and machine learning to track items inside the physical store rather than employing the approach of the more recent Amazon shelf-sensor tech.

Despite raising over $73 million, including a $39 million round in 2021 led by Commerce Ventures and backed by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, Grabango couldn’t raise more capital as the venture market declined. Total shrinkage in IPOs since early 2022 made it even harder for startups to attract funds, which hit promising ventures, too, like Grabango.

The company has already lined up deals with retailers Aldi, Giant Eagle, 7-Eleven, and Circle K, as such positioning itself in the market against emerging players like AiFi and Trigo, which are also developing cashierless technology. In the early years, Glaser was already projecting that the company might go for an IPO with a market cap of between $10 billion and $15 billion.

In that regard, the demise of Grabango exemplifies the pressures seen in the cashierless tech sector, especially after Amazon curbed its offerings. The stress caused by funding constraints—only a few will likely emerge from the race to take the retail revolution forward.