Wayvee Analytics, a customer satisfaction analytics innovator for brick-and-mortar retailers, today emerged from stealth with $5 million in pre-seed funding led by Tetrad.vc. By uniting radio frequency (RF) waves with proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, Wayvee’s emotion AI technology anonymously analyzes emotional responses based on physiological signals in real time, evaluating Customer Satisfaction Score (C-SAT) and key performance metrics for retailers. 

Retailers face increasing challenges in understanding customer behavior. Traditional methods, such as surveys and mystery shoppers, are too slow to keep up with the dynamic needs of the modern environment. While 93% of customer experience (CX) leaders reported using a metric like C-SAT to measure performance, only 15% were fully satisfied with how their company was measuring CX and 94% lacked confidence in their measurement system enabling strategic and tactical decision making. The most successful retailers hold a deep understanding of customer behavior and have integrated these insights into product, layout and store management.

After leading product development and launching several augmented reality (AR) campaigns for Shazam’s Eastern European division, CEO and founder Alex Ovcharov leveraged his neuroscience background in collaboration with developers and former CERN physicists to engineer an algorithm capable of detecting breathing rate and micro-movements using a standard WiFi router, ultimately leading to the development of a proprietary 4D radar device.

Wayvee not only measures C-SAT and other key engagement metrics instantly, it goes beyond the numbers by identifying sources of dissatisfaction and offering actionable recommendations for improvement. The privacy-preserving, patented technology analyzes emotional responses based on physiological signals such as breathing, heart rate, and micro-movements, and directly correlates this data with customer satisfaction. 

“Emotion AI is paving the way for better experiences everywhere. Technology like Wayvee is designed to transform any offline industry where customer experience is key to success, and we’re starting with the largest one: retail,” said Alex Ovcharov, CEO and founder, Wayvee Analytics. “I recognized the growing demand for insights into offline customer experiences, despite a gap in the market when it came to service offerings. My background in customer behavior analytics, combined with experience in founding companies focused on emotion analysis, culminated in Wayvee's breakthrough technology. Wayvee is changing how stores interact with customers, providing live feedback from 100% of shoppers in real time.”

With in-store retail media ad spend expected to reach over $1B by 2028 and more than 80%  of retail sales transacting in brick-and-mortar stores, the urgency for retailers to evaluate the impact of in-store media or ad campaigns by tracking conversions within the store has never been greater. Installed in-store and applicable to shelves, displays, and point-of-sale systems, Wayvee delivers instant feedback on all customer interactions. 

Key benefits of Wayvee include:

• Real-time customer satisfaction analytics: Wayvee leverages its proprietary AI algorithm and advanced RF technology to securely evaluate C-SAT and customer engagement metrics, including average dwell time and number of engagements. Wayvee can also identify sources of customer dissatisfaction that impact C-SAT and offer actionable recommendations for improvement.
• Privacy-preserving approach: Traditional methods like cameras, surveys and mystery shoppers can be invasive, and are often limited by subjectivity, delayed feedback, and small sample size. Extensive studies on emotion recognition through physiological signals, combined with Wayvee’s large dataset used to train the neural network, ensure the accuracy of the algorithm’s analysis. This approach allows Wayvee to operate effectively without relying on video-based methods.
• Complete customer coverage: Wayvee’s emotion AI technology provides retailers with comprehensive, real-time analytics, and the ability to reach 100% of in-store customers compared to traditional methods capable of capturing just 0.1%.
• Actionable, data-driven insights: Thanks to Wayvee, retailers can evaluate conversion rates, plan store operations and allocate resources efficiently based on customer flow and engagement data, evaluate the impact of in-store media or ad campaigns by tracking conversions generated from content displayed on screens within the store.

“This funding allows us to rapidly scale both our team and technology as global demand for a solution like Wayvee takes off. We are advancing key capabilities, boosting production, refining our hardware for large-scale and self-installation, and targeting installations to 1,000 stores by year-end. With new pilots in point-of-sale and cart technologies, Wayvee is redefining the way retailers understand and respond to customer behavior,” continued Ovcharov.

“We chose to partner with Wayvee because of its unique technology and proactive approach to collaboration, offering real-time data analytics that other solutions couldn't match. Wayvee has enhanced our ability to gather precise customer behavior insights during product testing at IROHA Mart, helping us refine marketing strategies for new market entries,”said Masashi Kameyama, Director of Marketing & Business Development, IROHA International Pte. Ltd. “Wayvee’s technology has already strengthened the appeal of our test marketing services, and  we believe its innovative approach to measuring in-store behavior without intrusive methods positions Wayvee as a valuable long-term partner.” 

Beyond retail, Wayvee’s technology is also applicable in smart homes, healthcare, gaming, and workspace management, providing powerful insights to enhance the user experience and optimize performance across diverse environments.

To learn more about Wayvee, please visit: https://wayvee.com/