CB4

What CB4 does

CB4 (legal entity Context-Based 4 Casting Ltd.) is a New York-headquartered, Israel-rooted AI software company that sells an enterprise SaaS product called Spotlight to brick-and-mortar retail chains. Founded in 2014 by Israeli entrepreneurs and operating as a subsidiary of Gap Inc., CB4 applies patented machine learning algorithms to retailers' aggregated point-of-sale data to detect store-level execution issues — out-of-stocks, pricing mismatches, products left in the stockroom, missing promotional labels, inventory discrepancies, and visual merchandising non-compliance — at SKU and store granularity. Spotlight then sends mobile/desktop recommendations to store managers, projects revenue recovery, tracks compliance via an ROI dashboard, and continuously adapts its recommendations based on manager feedback.

The company positions itself as a verticalized retail execution platform serving grocery, convenience store, apparel, and specialty retail operators. Its technology differentiator is pattern recognition across the long tail of assortment that human store walks and traditional BI analytics reportedly miss; claims include restoring 0.5%-2% to retailer's bottom line and 95% average store-manager compliance. Distribution is enterprise field sales with custom-quote pricing tied to store count and chain size; no self-serve channel or public API exists. CB4 reports deployment across 3,000+ stores in 20+ countries, with named enterprise customers including Wakefern (ShopRite, Price Rite), Lidl, Circle K, Kum & Go, Ace Hardware, Levi's, Urban Outfitters, Weis Markets, Heinen's, Media Markt, and Eroski, plus mid-market logos such as Festival Foods and Blain's Farm & Fleet.

CB4 monetizes through annual subscription licensing to its Spotlight platform, which is sold via demo-based direct sales (45 minute-to-1 hour live demonstrations for enterprises) and inside sales for mid-market accounts. The company has offices in New York (sales, marketing, customer success, product), Herzliya (engineering, R&D, founders), and London (European coverage); holds SOC 2 Type 2 certification; has raised $26 million in venture funding (a 2014 $6M seed led by Sequoia Capital Israel and a 2019 $16M Series B led by Octopus Ventures); and operates with approximately 60 employees as a Gap Inc. subsidiary.

Name

CB4

Legal name

Context-Based 4 Casting Ltd.

Website

https://cb4.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

CB4 (a Gap Inc. subsidiary) sells Spotlight, an enterprise SaaS platform applying patented machine learning to retailers' POS data to detect in-store execution issues — out-of-stocks, pricing errors, and merchandising non-compliance — and guide store managers to recover 0.5%-2% of lost sales.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Retail Execution Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (513210)

akta.pro primary industry

Retail Execution Technology & Services (SFA, Planogram, Image Recognition) (MPAAAJAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

B2B SaaS & Enterprise Personalization (CRM, Sales, Support) (HDAAAGAJ), Pricing, Revenue Growth Management (RGM) & Promo Analytics Services (CRAOAOAE)

Keywords

• Retail execution software
• AI in-store analytics
• POS data machine learning
• Retail loss prevention
• Store operations SaaS

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. SaaS Subscription (Spotlight): AI-powered retail execution software subscription. Retailers pay for access to Spotlight platform that analyzes their POS data and provides recommendations. Revenue generated through per-store or enterprise licensing fees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

CB4 sells a SaaS product called Spotlight that uses patented AI and machine learning to analyze retailers' aggregated POS data and identify in-store execution issues (out-of-stocks, pricing mismatches, inventory discrepancies, missing promotional labels, visual merchandising non-compliance) at the SKU and store level. The platform sends actionable recommendations to store managers via a web/mobile app, adapts over time based on manager feedback, and tracks revenue impact and compliance on an ROI dashboard.

Product overview

CB4 offers a single unified product called Spotlight — an AI-powered retail execution platform. The platform runs patented machine learning algorithms against retailers' POS data to identify when physical issues in stores (out-of-stocks, pricing errors, inventory discrepancies, visual merchandising problems) are preventing products from selling to their full potential. Spotlight delivers store-level recommendations to managers via a mobile/desktop app, tracks compliance and ROI via a dashboard, and continuously improves recommendations based on store manager feedback.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Spotlight: CB4's flagship AI-powered retail execution software that sends store managers recommendations to fix critical in-store issues and track ROI.

Products and services

• CB4 Spotlight Patented AI-powered retail execution SaaS that analyzes retailers' aggregated POS data to identify in-store execution issues (out-of-stocks, pricing mismatches, products left in stockroom, inventory discrepancies, missing promotional labels, visual merchandising non-compliance) at SKU and store level. Delivers actionable recommendations to store managers via a web/mobile app, tracks ROI and compliance on a dashboard, and continuously adapts based on manager feedback. Target customers are enterprise and mid-market retail chains across grocery, c-store, apparel, and specialty verticals.

Quantifiable outcome

• Restores 0.5%-2% to bottom line (net new sales)
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers19 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature4 records

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Planorama: Image-recognition retail execution platform specializing in shelf compliance and merchandising audit. Partial overlap with CB4 Spotlight in addressing out-of-stocks and merchandising non-compliance.
• Simbe (Tally): Robotics + computer-vision retail intelligence platform for shelf auditing. Adjacent to CB4 in solving the same in-store execution problem via automated store walks, complementing POS-based detection.
• Focal Systems: Shelf-scanning retail automation startup using computer vision to detect out-of-stocks and pricing errors. Competes with CB4 on in-store execution outcomes but uses a different (vision-based) data modality.
• shelf.ai: AI-driven retail execution platform combining POS analytics with computer vision. Targets the same retail operations buyer as CB4 with a hybrid approach to identifying execution issues.

Direct peers

• Symphony RetailAI: Enterprise AI platform for retail demand forecasting, category management, and in-store execution. Directly competes with CB4 Spotlight for the same retail operations and merchandising buyers, with overlapping POS-data-driven recommendation capabilities.
• Aptos: Retail technology vendor offering merchandising, planning, and store execution solutions to specialty, grocery, and apparel retailers. Overlaps with CB4's vertical coverage and customer base in store-level execution tooling.
• RELEX Solutions: Supply chain and retail planning platform with in-store replenishment and execution modules. Competes head-to-head with CB4 in grocery and convenience verticals for store-level execution and availability improvements.
• Trax Retail: Computer-vision retail execution platform that uses in-store image capture rather than POS data alone. Targets the same retailer outcome (fixing out-of-stocks and merchandising compliance) as CB4 via a complementary but competing technology approach.

Broad incumbents

• SAP (Retail / CAR): Enterprise software incumbent with retail merchandise planning and customer activity repository (CAR) applications. Competes with CB4 by bundling execution analytics into broader ERP/retail suites sold to large chains.
• Oracle Retail: Suite of retail planning, merchandising, and store operations applications under the Oracle Cloud banner. Targets many of the same enterprise retail customers as CB4 with a broader, integrated platform offering.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cb4
• Xx.com/CB4_Analytics

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors6 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about CB4