AI-Powered Retail Intelligence for the Store Shelf
At nvp capital, we’ve built our focus around a simple belief: some of the most exciting opportunities for AI are hiding in plain sight. Huge parts of the economy still run on pen-and-paper workflows and outdated systems. These industries don’t always make headlines, but they’re the backbone of how we live and work – and they’re overdue for change.
One of those industries is retail: the behind-the-scenes work that keeps shelves stocked, products in the right place, and displays properly set. It’s a $20B+ market, and it hasn’t changed meaningfully in years.
That’s starting to shift. Brands are under more pressure than ever to perform in stores, but the old model of sending people in for expensive, manual audits is slow, costly, and often unreliable. At the same time, advances in computer vision models and generative AI are opening the door for a better way to do this work.
A Proven Team, Tackling a New Challenge
David Roger (CEO), Michael Rostowsky (Product & Finance), Bobby Shomrony (Operations), and Mike Walters (CTO) saw the opportunity early and firsthand. Before Hetal, they ran and eventually sold Felix Gray where David was its cofounder and CEO. Known for their pioneering of the blue light glasses space, Felix Gray grew beyond its D2C roots into retail. By the time they sold the business, they were nationwide in key retailers like Target, CVS, and Best Buy.
There they experienced the issues that brands of all sizes face. They saw how industry partners struggled to understand what was happening on shelves and how slow sell-through data made it tough to react in time. Hetal changes that. It provides brands real-time visibility and the tools to take action. Starting with shelf insights, the team is building toward a future where brands can plan smarter, move faster, and take control of in-store performance.
Turning Everyday Trips into Data Gold
Hetal’s approach is both simple and smart. Regular shoppers use Hetal’s mobile app to record short videos of store aisles while they do their usual shopping. Users–lovingly called Hetalites–can reserve store sessions and are asked to complete them during the week. Once started, they’re told what aisles to film, which each take 15-60 seconds each. As long as the data is usable, they’ll earn $10 or more per session.
On the backend, Hetal’s computer vision and AI algorithms analyze those videos to spot missing products, incorrect pricing, misplaced displays, and more. The system doesn’t just flag problems, it also coordinates corrective action and analyzes how shelf execution can positively or negatively affect sales. As Roger says, “we’ve been on the brand side, so we know how busy everyone is. Providing an issue list is not enough, any good solution needs to handle the action as well.”
For brands, this means highly detailed, store-level insights starting at less than $2 per visit. Traditional methods often cost four to five times that, and don’t deliver the same speed or accuracy. And because Hetal’s product leverages proprietary data to continually improve over time as the models learn and the dataset grows.
Building the Future of Retail Intelligence
Even while still in Beta, Hetal is gaining strong traction. The team is already approaching 30 customers and meaningful ARR. Every video adds to a growing dataset that brings Hetal closer to becoming the go-to platform for in-store performance – a kind of Google Analytics for shelves.
Strengthened by Experienced Support
Starting companies is hard. A great way to improve the odds is to have already worked deeply on problems before. The Hetal team brings a rare mix of experience, trust, and executional discipline, all honed during their time at Felix Gray together. They’re also supported by early advisors like Jeff Williams (former SVP of Retail at NielsenIQ) and James Kairos (interim CEO at Jyve) who bring deep industry knowledge.
We are thrilled to have invested in Hetal alongside all-star funds such as Ludlow Ventures, GTM Fund, Nomad Ventures and MXV – bringing a robust team of operators, early-stage specialists, and go-to-market experts to support Hetal’s next stage of growth.
Why We’re Excited
At nvp, we look for founders who notice the things others miss and take action. David and the Hetal team fit that description perfectly. They bring the urgency, focus, and insight needed to modernize a core part of retail that most people don’t think about, but that touches nearly every brand and every store.
With a strong early start, a proven team, and the right technology at just the right moment, Hetal has the potential to become the new standard for how retail execution gets done.
