Alpha Modus Holdings has entered a strategic consulting and business development agreement with Circle the Wagons aimed at accelerating adoption of its ARIA retail AI platform and Alpha Cash financial services across the independent grocery market.
The 12-month program sets out initial commercial objectives that include signing two ARIA beta agreements covering multiple store locations, establishing one Alpha Cash reseller or distribution alliance and generating introductions to at least five qualified distribution prospects. The companies said the program is structured to move from beta deployments into paying, multiyear enterprise customers, with progress measured quarterly against defined milestones.
“Circle the Wagons brings the relationships, channel access and execution strength to take ARIA and Alpha Cash into new and different markets at scale,” said William Alessi, CEO of Cornelius, North Carolina-based Alpha Modus. “The platform is ready, the channel is engaged, and execution is underway.”
CTW’s independent grocery network
Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Houma, Louisiana, Circle the Wagons operates a group purchasing, consulting, supply chain and technology-sourcing platform with a network the company says spans several thousand retail and grocery stores. Founder and CEO Barton Howard serves on the Advisory Council of Retailer Owned Food Distributors & Associates, whose member wholesalers collectively supply nearly 7,000 independent grocery stores nationwide. CTW also collaborates with the National Grocers Association, which launched the CTW Innovation Lounge at its 2025 Executive Conference and Public Policy Summit.
“Independent grocers do not need another technology presentation; they need solutions that can be deployed, deliver measurable economic value and help them compete,” Howard said.
The technology
ARIA, short for Adaptive Retail Intelligence Architecture, is designed to ingest and analyze data from systems already operating inside a store, including point-of-sale, cameras, Wi-Fi and digital signage, giving independent operators enterprise-level retail intelligence without significant new hardware investment. The platform commercializes capabilities covered by Alpha Modus’s 12 granted U.S. patents. Sasha Asgary, chief strategy officer at Alpha Modus and ARIA’s architect, said the platform will be built around use cases surfaced from retailers rather than forcing standardized configurations.
Alpha Cash, operated through Alpha Modus Financial Services, provides mobile and kiosk-based financial services for unbanked and underbanked consumers, a population independent grocers often serve as community anchors.
The companies pointed to NGA’s 2026 economic impact study, which found independent grocers account for approximately $353.5 billion of the $920 billion U.S. food retailing sector and generate $557.5 billion in annual economic activity.
Alpha Modus is a vertical AI company focused on real-time, in-store shopper engagement and attribution, traded on Nasdaq under AMOD.