There is a massive difference between the spark of invention and the process of innovation. Specifically, this is what has attracted me to this company. It is doing the very hard work of innovation to improve a developing niche. The company has two verticals, the Shekel Scales and Retail Innovation. In the retail innovation sector is the company's flagship development technology, the micro-market project, 'Capsule'.

The company is in an advanced stage in a pilot for this product, and investors are expecting to hear positive news after a halt to trading on Wednesday.

The Shekel Brainweigh difference

Something happened while we were in COVID-19 lockdown that changed everything. Yet, we all took it in our stride. Physical money basically disappeared. Sure, some places still accept it, but contact-less shopping appears inevitable. 

Shekel Brainweigh has a range of products designed for the contact-less shopping world. First, AI-enabled smart retail bays for grab-and-go service. The bays provide retail insights for shop owners, minimise out-of-stock, and control stock quantities to manage inventory. 

Second, the companies smart vending machines. Specifically, these include real time sales, inventory status, and automated replenishment plans. Moreover, the company has filled its first order for a minimum of 1200 machines. 

Third, in the retail innovation area is the walk-in, walk-out Capsule micro market, a truly innovative product. It boasts flawless identification and tracking, payment without checkout, is available 24/7, and is autonomous. Lastly, it uses product aware shelves, providing it with inventory management capabilities. 

The core business

The company sells "best in class" weighing technology to the retail and healthcare sectors globally. In healthcare, this includes special care scales, baby and neo-natal scales, as well as a line of products in incubators and warmers for premature babies.  In retail, it sells self-checkout technology for blue-chip OEMs

Foolish Takeaway

Shekel Brainweigh is a disruptive technology company, wrapped in a successful precision instruments manufacturer. Among other things, the company is vying for its share of the 32,000 micro markets locations it believes will exist in the US alone by 2022.

It is not the only company in either of these sectors. Nevertheless, the technology is a big differentiator. It also appears to have a good grasp on how to bring these technologies to a global market. 

The post Is the Shekel Brainweigh (ASX:SBW) share price a millionaire maker? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The sudden fall of the ASX BNPL sector

The Sezzle share price hit its year to date high mark on 28 August. Since then it has collapsed by 39.95%, almost half. Most other ASX BNPL shares fared little better. From 31 August Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) has fallen by 27.84%, Openpay Group Ltd (ASX: OPY) by 31.9% from 28 August, Splitit Ltd (ASX: SPT) by 20.43%, and market leader Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) by 19.02%.

There are a few reasons for this. However, most of the falls came after Paypal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: PYPL) declared it would enter the market with an existing network of 204 million users globally. This seemed to finally pierce the bubble of hype around these shares. It was followed shortly after by the inital public offering (IPO) of Laybuy Holdings Ltd (ASX: LBY).

Moreover, PayPal is not the only shark in the water. Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) has already entered the BNPL market locally via its partnership with Swedish private bank, Klarna. To illustrate the point further, there are even more private companies in this sector like LimePay.

In case it hasn't already become blindingly obvious to us all, there are simply very few barriers to entry. In addition, there are many other players in the banking and payments industries that could easily and quickly enter the market.

So, what's next?

Along with ASX BNPL shares, we also saw industrial age shares like Oil Search Limited (ASX: OSH) fall by 7.79%. Likewise, information age companies like Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1) fell by 6.08%. So what held up? Innovation shares. Companies in truly innovative areas held their ground or gained significantly.

I picked up on two great examples of this today. First, Brainchip Holdings Ltd (ASX: BRN) continued its fantastic run by rising by 2.74%. The artificial intelligence company has seen its share price rise by 316.67% since 13 August. It recently announced the first two proof of concept partnerships for its first-of-a-kind neuromophic chip.

Second, in a burst of 45.45%, was Shekel Brainweigh Ltd (ASX: SBW). This is an advanced weighing technology firm, integrating artificial intelligence into its technologies. On Wednesday the company entered a trading halt. The market is expecting news of its micro-market project 'Capsule', which is in an advanced stage of its pilot program. 

The Capsule is an innovative 24/7, autonomous micro-market. This is a range of very high tech vending machines within a sealed unit which provides owners with a large range of information on shelve movements, perfect real time inventory management platform, and customer tracking technology.

Foolish Takeaway

I don't think the ASX BNPL sector is dead, far from it in fact. It has just entered a new phase of growth. I think the steam is likely to come out of BNPL share prices very soon if it hasn't already, but moderate growth will remain.

In any case, the entire sector is becoming less and less like a final frontier. Sector leaders are emerging, and the predatory finance giants that have been sitting on the sidelines are starting to enter. Just as today every bank has a mortgage section, every alternative finance company can have a BNPL section, and in future I believe it will be regulated.

I still own some shares in Sezzle, and I like Zip Co, but I have sold down to take profits at this stage. However, I am looking more and more into the amazing innovation companies we have on the ASX. Companies that are building the future before our eyes. 

The post If the ASX BNPL party is over, what's next? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.