The deal is with Paltac Corporation, the biggest supplier to drugstore-style shops in Japan. It begins modestly, with a single pilot store in the city of Sendai, about four hours north of Tokyo, set to open in early 2019. Then it ramps up fast: The plan is to outfit over 3,000 stores in time for the Tokyo Olympics in July 2020. "The government is pushing its stores and its companies to put their best digital foot forward for the Olympics," says Michael Suswal, Standard Cognition's COO and one of the Bay Area startup's seven cofounders. Partnering with Paltac, which supplies most of Japan's small retail industry, allows Standard Cognition to reach a diverse market.