20 retail tech startups to watch in 2020
RTIH has been highlighting startups that should be on your radar in 2020. Round them up in one article, you cried. Oh, go on then, we replied. Expect big things from these retail tech ventures over the next 12 months.
1. Pointy
Google is set to acquire Pointy, an Irish startup that helps people find out what their local stores have in stock.
Terms of the deal, expected to close in the coming weeks, were not disclosed, although according to media reports Google is shelling out €147 million.
2. StoreHub
PoS and e-commerce platform provider StoreHub has announced a $8.9 million Series A+ funding round, led by Vertex Ventures.
3. Coniq
CRM and loyalty specialist Coniq recently closed a £6.4 million funding round, led by Guinness Asset Management and Maven Capital Partners.
4. Kar-go
Martin Newman, founder of The Customer First Group and former Practicology boss, has made an undisclosed investment in UK-based autonomous delivery startup Kar-go.
5. Soft Robotics
Soft Robotics has closed a Series B funding round, raising $23 million co-led by Calibrate Ventures and Material Impact and including existing backers Honeywell, Hyperplane, Scale, Tekfen Ventures and Yamaha.
6. IMAGR
New Zealand automated checkout startup IMAGR has received backing from Toshiba Tec Corporation.
7. AiFi
AiFi is providing the technology for the first ever autonomous gas station convenience store, situated in Silicon Valley. It is also powering a retrofitted, larger convenience store on a residential street in Shanghai.
8. Breez
Breez allows users to send and receive Bitcoin payments over the Lightning Network. “Our ultimate goal is to make the Lightning economy and Bitcoin mainstream,” CEO Roy Shenfield recently told RTIH.
9. Bulldog Kiosks
Bulldog Kiosks provides self-service desktop and freestanding kiosks “to suit the ever increasing diversity of the marketplaces we serve”.
10. Ladingo
Ladingo’s cloud-based solution enables online retailers to sell and ship large and bulky items such as furniture, home appliances or fitness equipment with “low-cost shipping and hassle-free delivery”.
11. Karakuri
Last year, Ocado stumped up £4.75 million for a minority stake in UK robotics firm Karakuri. RTIH recently caught up with CEO and Co-founder Barney Wragg to see what all the fuss is about.
12. Lolli
Lolli has partnered with a number of major brands and retailers this year, enabling shoppers to earn Bitcoin rewards. These include Nike, Farfetch and Safeway.
13. Threekit
Threekit is a software platform that lets brands create photorealistic images and 3D visuals without the need for a photographer.
14. Shoenvious
Shoenvious is a direct-to-consumer footwear brand that allows women to customise and design their perfect shoes online.
15. Anchor Shops
Anchor Shops is part of the ShopFulfill ecosystem, which provides companies with a complete retail infrastructure as well as an e-commerce fulfilment and logistics solution.
16. Tokinomo
Tokinomo has developed a solution that uses sound, motion and light to bring products to life at the shelf and increase shopper engagement.
“It’s a way of creating an emotional bond with the customers and turning your product into a storyteller at the Point of Sale. That’s the true magic of it,” Founder, Ionut Vlad, recently told RTIH.
17. SandStar
Mike Kiser recently joined China-based AI, computer vision solution provider SandStar, formerly known as YI Tunnel, as the President of North America.
“SandStar’s cutting-edge technology truly transforms retail industry,” he said. “My motivation and focus are to obtain the resources required to fully exploit this exciting new technology to accelerate speed to market and position SandStar as the leading AI, computer vision company in the world.”
18. Tryd
Tryd provides a delivery service for high street shops, allowing customers to receive their items within a one hour slot.
Its Try Before You Buy service for fashion products offers the customer 15 minutes to try the items on in the comfort of their own home or office. If they are not fully satisfied with their purchase, Tryd will return items to the store.
19. JGOO
Former M&S and BHS exec David Anderson recently joined JGOO as a non-executive director.
Launched in London in 2017, JGOO, via its partnerships with WeChat Pay and Alipay, helps connect UK and European companies to Chinese shoppers and tourists. It is a subsidiary of the British FinTech group R8, with backers including Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, who sits on the board as a non-executive director.
20. Alert Innovation
A Walmart supercentre in Salem, New Hampshire is now fully operational with the retailer’s Alphabet solution.
Developed exclusively for Walmart by Alert Innovation, the system operates inside a 20,000-square-foot warehouse-style space, using autonomous carts to retrieve ambient, refrigerated and frozen items ordered for online grocery.
After it retrieves them, Alphabot delivers the products to a workstation, where a Walmart associate checks, bags and delivers the final order.