Amazon's new grocery store could be driving up the price of a $600 million company (AMZN, PI)
Amazon's new grocery store, Amazon Go, may have created a surprise winner: Impinj, a $600 million IoT company that went public about four months ago.
On Tuesday, Impinj closed up more than 7.5%, after RBC Capital published a note saying the company could be a major beneficiary of Amazon's new grocery store initiative.
Impinj offers real-time inventory tracking technology which makes it easy for retailers to see the movement of every item in the store.
Although there hasn't been any official partnerships, it theoretically makes sense for Amazon to adopt Impinj's technology, as Amazon Go comes with no cashiers or checkout lines.
In fact, RBC Capital's Mitch Steves wrote in the note that Impinj is already working with Amazon in its "small set of retail stores," and predicted that the company could get involved in the build out of Amazon Go, as well.
He wrote:
"Impinj is working with Amazon in its small set of retail stores and we think the Company may be involved in the Amazon Go initiative as well (no confirmation from either party at this time). This would act as a logical extension of the Impinj product line as the chips could be used as the inventory Management tracker (when lifting a new item the system recognizes a picked up sale allowing for seamless walk-out the door checkout)."
Steves added the potential partnership could give Impinj an instant 3% to 5% revenue growth, and even double its annual revenue if it finds a way to get into all of Amazon's warehouses. Last year, Impinj had $78.5 million in revenue.
Neither company responded when reached for comment by Business Insider.
Impinj, founded in 2000, is best-known for its RAIN RFID wireless technology that can track products in real-time. Its technology is used in a number of markets, including retail, healthcare, and manufacturing. The video below, published in 2013, gives a clue to how its technology works in a retail setting:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/jO6-TKkKj-I
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