The retail technology year in review: July

RTIH takes a look back at July and rounds up the winners and losers.

Winners

US buy now, pay later venture Sezzle made its Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) debut and laid claim to being “a formidable opponent for the likes of Afterpay and Klarna, particularly in the North American market”.

Autonomous checkout startup Standard Cognition closed a $35 million Series B round of financing lead by EQT Ventures with participation from Initialized Capital, CRV and Y Combinator.

Trax, a Singapore-headquartered provider of computer vision and analytics solutions for the retail sector, closed a $100 million Series D round, valuing it at over $1.1 billion.

Amazon’s fifth annual Prime Day event wrapped up on Tuesday, 16th July, having kicked off on Monday, 15th.

The e-commerce giant reported that sales surpassed those of both the previous Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined, producing "the largest shopping event in Amazon history”.

Chinese women’s football received a major boost, with Ant Financial’s Alipay announcing it would provide one billion yuan ($145.43 million) in funding for a 10-year project.

Logistics startup Cubyn closed a €12 million round led by DN Capital and also including Partech Ventures, 360 Capital Partners, BNP Paribas Developpement and BPI France.

Online retailer The Hut Group said that strategic investments, to develop its technology, infrastructure, brands and people, delivered “exceptional global growth” last year. Group sales were up 24% to £916 million for the year ended 31st December 2018. International sales constituted 66% of that. Gross profit, meanwhile, increased by 31% to £417 million.

Mercato, a US-based online ordering and delivery platform for independent grocery stores, wrapped a $4 million funding round led by VC firm Greycroft.

Independent homewares marketplace, Trouva, debuted at number three on the Startups 100 2019 Index, lining up alongside the likes of FinTech big hitter Revolut. It was the only retail entry in this year’s top ten.

The global blockchain supply chain market, valued at $93.16 million in 2017, is set to reach $9.85 billion by 2025, according to a study by Allied Market Research (AMR).

US startup Bulletin raised $7 million in a Series A round led Foundation Capital and with participation from Kleiner Perkins, Trail Mix Ventures and Afore Capital.

PayTech venture SumUp secured a €330 million loan, backed by the likes of Bain Capital Credit, Goldman Sachs Private Capital, HPS Investment Partners and TPG Sixth Street Partners.

Losers

Shares in Asos sunk this month after the pureplay said that sales growth in the US and Europe had been held back by problems at its warehouses.

Walmart was projecting losses of more than $1 billion for its US e-commerce division this year, on revenue of between $21 billion and $22 billion.

The Information Commissioner's Office said it would fine US hotel group Marriott International £99.2 million. This related to a data breach that resulted in about 339 million guests' having had their personal details exposed.