The five most important retail tech news stories of the week

It’s Friday, the week is nearly done, so let’s kick back and reflect on another eventful week for the retail technology space. Here's your briefing on some of the most important and interesting stories from the past five days.

1. Klarna boss discusses going public vs private rounds

Klarna’s CEO has not ruled out taking public Europe’s most valuable FinTech venture, although another funding round could also be possible.

2. Glovo reaches unicorn status after major funding round

Barcelona-based on-demand delivery startup Glovo has closed a €150 million ($167 million) Series E funding round, led by Mubadala, with support from previous investors Drake Enterprises, Idinvest and Lakestar.

3. UK online retailers enjoy November bounce after poor year

UK online sales rose by 16.4% year-on-year in November, thanks to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This is the highest growth since April 2018, according to IMRG and Capgemini research.

4. Adyen announces McDonald's mobile payments agreement

Adyen has landed a deal to power international mobile app payments for McDonald’s, starting in the UK in 2020.

5. US and emerging markets power contactless payments boom

The installed base of contactless-enabled PoS devices will exceed 161 million by 2024, up from 78 million in 2019, according to Juniper Research. Contactless PoS devices will then be 94% of all PoS devices in use.