Constructor has raised $25 million in a Series B funding round to support the further product development and international expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered product discovery and search platform for enterprise eCommerce companies.
With the new funding, Constructor will continue innovating its product and helping customers apply multiple types of AI to improve product discovery “while optimizing for eCommerce metrics that matter,” the company said in a Monday (June 17) press release.
“We believe putting AI at the core of our system from the beginning has played a large role in the successes we’ve been able to bring our customers — but also believe there’s always room to serve them better, and that’s the main thing we want to use this investment for,” Eli Finkelshteyn, CEO and co-founder of Constructor, said in the release.
The Constructor platform uses AI to help shoppers discover products they want to buy and helps eCommerce teams deliver personalized experiences in real time, according to the release.
Over the past six months, the platform has powered more than 100 billion customer interactions, the release said. The company has increased its customer base by 50% over the past year and maintained an average client retention rate of 98.5% over the past three years.
In addition, Constructor recently unveiled an AI Shopping Assistant (ASA) that blends generative AI with its personalization technology, per the release.
Constructor’s AI eCommerce search engine “has delivered best-in-class ROI for many household enterprises brands,” Rajeev Dham, partner at Sapphire Ventures, which led the funding round, said in the release.
“We are incredibly excited to partner with the team as they set a new standard in powering a hyper-personalized shopper experience,” Dham said.
Generative AI can generate new attributes and correct existing ones, helping companies meet the challenge of messy data, Finkelshteyn told PYMNTS in an interview posted in July. By seamlessly integrating with upstream systems, AI solutions offer a minimal technical lift.
In addition to doing 90% or 95% of that work, AI can adapt and improve its search filters and results over time by analyzing clickstream data and learning from customer behavior, Finkelshteyn added.
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We get a lot of press releases here at PYMNTS. We consider all of them, and some are more newsworthy than others. But this one really got our attention. This past week, Diebold Nixdorf made headlines with its announcement of successfully installing two new automated teller machines (ATMs) at the U.S. National Science Foundation’s McMurdo Station in Antarctica. This achievement marks a significant milestone in banking accessibility, to be sure. We would like to meet the crew that installed them. We’d also like to know why they needed two. Was there a line at the first one? More to come on that.
According to Diebold, McMurdo Station is Antarctica’s largest research and logistics hub, supporting a fluctuating population that ranges from fewer than 200 residents during the winter months to up to 1,100 individuals during the summer (October through February). The presence of these ATMs is crucial, it says, as the next closest banking facilities are thousands of miles away, making them the only ATMs on the entire continent. How’s that for a value proposition?
The DN Series ATMs are designed for always-on availability. And why do they need two? One ATM is actively in use, while the second serves as a backup for spare parts, ensuring uninterrupted service in this isolated area. These machines are connected to the DN AllConnect Data Engine, which leverages Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity, machine learning, and artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor their performance. A dedicated team continuously aggregates and analyzes technical data to identify potential issues, enabling remote diagnostics and repairs. The ATM can be maintained by trained staff at NSF McMurdo Station, or the Diebold Nixdorf service team can remotely guide them through the repair process.
Anyway, it got us thinking. Are there other surprising ATMs in extreme locations? Well, of course, there are. Here’s a sampling of what we found.
At an altitude of about 5,364 meters (17,600 feet), the Mount Everest Base Camp in Nepal is another unexpected place to find an ATM. Although it’s not a permanent fixture and is often set up seasonally, it caters to climbers and trekkers who need cash for local transactions. This temporary ATM service underscores the adaptability of banking services in extreme environments.
In some parts of the Amazon rainforest, particularly in Brazil and Peru, ATMs can be found in small villages and towns. These machines are vital for local communities, providing access to cash in areas where digital payment options might be limited. The presence of ATMs here demonstrates how banking services can reach even the most remote communities.
Located in the Tibet Autonomous Region, Nagqu is home to one of the highest ATMs in the world. This region is very remote, with limited infrastructure, making the presence of an ATM a notable example of banking accessibility in extreme environments.
In the Thousand Islands (Kepulauan Seribu) off the coast of Jakarta, Indonesia, there’s a floating ATM. This unique ATM serves the local community and tourists on the islands, demonstrating how banking services can adapt to isolated marine environments.
Longyearbyen, the administrative center of the Svalbard archipelago in Norway, boasts the most northerly ATM. This location is one of the most remote inhabited places on Earth, with limited access to mainland Norway, making the ATM a vital service for residents and visitors.
On a more serious note, the installation of ATMs in places like Antarctica and other remote locations highlights the evolving nature of banking technology. With advancements in IoT, AI and remote diagnostics, it’s becoming increasingly feasible to provide banking services in areas previously considered inaccessible. As we look to the future, it will be interesting to see where else ATMs might appear. Whether it’s on a remote island, at the top of a mountain or even in space, the ability to access cash is becoming more universal than ever. And who knows? Maybe one day, we’ll see an ATM on Mars, serving the first interplanetary travelers.
For now, the presence of ATMs in unexpected places reminds us that banking is not just about transactions; it’s about connecting people and communities across the globe, no matter how remote they might be.
