The retail technology week in numbers
$30 million…Mobile computer vision, barcode scanning and augmented reality venture, Scandit, has raised $30 million in Series B funding led by GV, with participation from NGP Capital and existing investor Atomico. The company has previously raised $13 million.
12,400…PayPoint says that it is making good progress in “embedding its offering at the heart of convenience retail”, with PayPoint One now in 9,260 sites, of which 292 are taking the company’s EPoS Pro solution. It remains on target to have PayPoint One in 12,400 sites by 31st March 2019.
£175 million…E-commerce delivery platform provider, MetaPack, has been bought by postage online and shipping software solutions venture, Stamps.com in a deal worth approximately £175 million.
$390 million…Grubhub is to acquire payments and loyalty venture LevelUp for $390 million in cash.
$394.23 billion…Amazon's worldwide e-commerce revenue will grow more than 28% this year to reach $394.23 billion, according to eMarketer.
£750,000…Fingopay has gone live on Crowdcube with the aim of raising £750,000.
$2 trillion…Mobile biometrics will authenticate $2 trillion worth of in-store and remote mobile payment transactions annually by 2023, according to Juniper Research. This is 17 times the $124 billion expected in 2018.
69%...New research by Hitachi Consulting reveals that retail technology directly affects where people shop.
The company surveyed 2,000 British consumers and found that 69% of respondents aged 24-35 claimed they would be more likely to shop with a retailer that was enhancing the shopping experience with innovative technology. 72% of this generation also stated their shopping habits differ to a decade ago.
£11 million…Retail ERP platform provider, Brightpearl, has announced a £11 million funding round led by Cipio Partners and the appointment of a new Chairman.
$600 million…Alibaba has joined a $600 million fundraising round for Megvii, the Chinese AI startup behind facial recognition system Face++.
45% of young Brits believe Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be better than them at finding a gift for a loved one within the next two years, with 48% stating they’d trust technology to help create a personalised gift vs just 13% of over 55s. That’s according to research by Photobox Group, parent of the Moonpig, Hofmann and posterXXL brands, involving 2,010 people.
JDA Software surveyed 1,100 US consumers and found that 27% who experienced technical issues either gave up without making purchases or purchased less than they had planned. A total of 52% of respondents experienced difficulties overall during the two-day flash sale
£47.2 billion…The UK convenience channel is set to add £7.1 billion in the next five years to reach £47.2 billion by 2023, according to IGD.
£1 million…Moteefe, a platform that allows entrepreneurs to sell customised products through social media, has announced investment from private equity firm Livingbridge.
Livingbridge, which has also backed online cycling retailer Wiggle and fashion marketplace SilkFred, invested £500,000 in the London-based venture in 2017 and has now stumped up £1 million as part of Moteefe’s latest funding round.
$1.43 billion…Alibaba Group is to pay $1.43 billion for a 6.62% share of Shanghai-based Focus Media, whose digital advertising screens can be seen on streets, in subways and in elevators across 300 Chinese cities.
