Meet Recoshelf: Demium alumni currently shaking up the supermarket sector

Last year Yaroslav Parkhisenko and Mykyta Holubakha dreamt up Recoshelf, an IoT solution to help supermarkets overcome low-stock losses. The idea is a kind of Big Brother for products: by installing weight sensors and cameras on retailers’ shelves, they can collect precise and up-to-the-minute data that could ultimately increase sales by up to 6%.

It’s reported that out of stock items lose retailers sales in almost half of all customer encounters, but to combat this manually is slow, expensive and prone to error. Recoshelf software acts in real time by continuously monitoring the shelves – not just for stock levels, but also customer habits, incorrect placement of items and price-matching. 

Currently they’re at MVP stage, building prototypes and receiving new requests every week, but the journey to this point wasn’t always plain sailing. “I had another IoT startup,” co-founder Parkhisenko tells us, “but we couldn’t find a large enough market for it. We were lacking in experience, which is something Demium helped me with. That’s why I applied for the AllStartup Weekend and I learned so many things there. It was the fastest personal transformation I’ve ever had.”

By attending the ASW in 2019 Yaroslav had the opportunity to mix with a bunch of other talented and driven individuals. “All the members had entrepreneurial experience before joining Demium,” he says, “which meant we all had the ability (and energy) to make quick decisions based on in-depth market understanding.”

Having partnered with co-founder Nikita, the pair worked with Demium to grow Recoshelf into a viable business. Now they’re ready to take the next step, to start raising seed funds and negotiate with customers. In a year’s time Yaroslav hopes they will be “a well known domestic company with contracts abroad”, but were it not for a crucial nudge from Demium Kyiv, Recoshelf may still be a pipedream. “If you don’t know how to make a breakthrough or you’re stuck and not sure how to find the right market fit, you need to ask for help from more experienced people,” Mr.Parkhisenko advises. “Demium are those people.”

https://recoshelf.io