When I first learned about AiFi’s spatial intelligence, the company’s then-CEO Steve Carlin gave me an example that clicked together for me at the time and still resonates today.
AiFi, Carlin shared, adds context to a space -- that can be anywhere, but for the purpose of this newsletter, we’re talking the autonomous stores in sports venues -- others can’t. He compared it to having a person walk around with you, clipboard in hand, jotting down your journey from entry to exit. My flaw, though, was thinking of that receipt too literally -- the paper with items purchased. Turns out, it’s capable of way more than that. And also, that clipboard-toting tagalong would eventually have a name.
AiFi introduced us to eddie this week, whose name is an acronym for “Event Driven Data Interpretation Engine.” This new API converts physical movement into data that can be sifted, questioned, and mobilized on by venue operators to develop higher efficiency and throughput with the help of the AI agent.
Recently, Carlin stepped out of the role, with CTO and co-founder João Diogo (JD) Falcão taking over AiFi after a stretch of significant sports venue growth. Carlin’s tenure enabled Falcão to focus on creating eddie, which could boost a venue’s understanding of how fans move, make decisions and, hopefully, buy items.
“Imagine that now you could ask a lot more things,” Falcão said. “What is the queue in my store right now? Or my merchandising team asking things like, ‘At what time did Coors run out, and how many people were in the store when that happened?’ How many people looked to buy Coors but didn’t buy because it wasn’t there?”
Falcão, who has a doctorate from Carnegie Mellon, said his takeover of AiFi was always in the plans. Carlin now shifts to an adviser role and back into his venture partner focus with Translink Capital, an AiFi investor. Falcão praised Carlin for adding much more operational structure to AiFi. He also guided the company through a use case in the Intuit Dome that the startup could not only hang its hat on but hang a whole outfit and a wardrobe change on.
That 40-plus store deployment played a massive role in AiFi’s traction-filled 2024, with approximately 75 deployed stores in sports. It has since notched business with Miami Freedom Park, KeyBank Center, Hard Rock Stadium and Allegiant Stadium in 2025. Those are a mix of new connections and conversions of more shopping spaces for existing customers.
Getting hyper-specific with eddie
Falcão said that eddie can boost many efforts, following up with a breakdown of how hyper-specifically it can detail various guests.
A client could look at the journey of a mother with two kids at a basketball game, understanding what the kids were drawn toward, the things they picked up that led to an interaction with the decision maker (mom), and whether those were purchased or set back down.
Seeing those interactions enables store operators to potentially identify new places in a space for products or develop deals catering to the mom-plus-two combination that turn the quick “No” of a parent into a no-brainer decision to spark a little joy in their kids.
“It is like bringing the buildings alive,” Falcão said. “All of a sudden, you’re putting a brain that can communicate through natural language in the infrastructure of the building and in your business.”
