The retail technology year in review: December

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

Winners

UK Boxing Day footfall decreased by 11.8% compared to 2018, according to ShopperTrak.

The UK Click and Collect market this year grew by 8.2% to 29.3 million buyers, according to eMarketer

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

Analysts said Ocado has the vision to become the “Microsoft of retail tomorrow” and transition into the FTSE’s most valuable tech giant.

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

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.

Blackrock increased its stake in The Hut Group as part of a €1 billion-plus capital-raising that transformed the online retailer’s balance sheet.

Retail delivery platform venture, Sorted, hit the £1 billion shipment mark.

Tesco claimed top spot in the third Top 10 Christmas Ad Rankings by marketing technology company 4C.

Cashierless checkouts startup, Zippin, closed a $12 million Series A funding round, led by Evolv Ventures.

LizEarle.com, RicherSounds.com and WexPhotoVideo.com were announced as the joint best online retailers in a Which? survey of over 7,000 shoppers.

SaaS enterprise customer service platform venture, Kustomer, raised $60 million in Series E funding.

Flow snagged $37 million in Series B funding from New Enterprise Associates (NEA), American Express Ventures and Latitude Ventures.

Hastee secured £208 million of investment to fund the development of its solution that gives workers immediate access to their earned pay.

mPOS transaction values will exceed $1.9 trillion by 2024, up from $850 billion in 2019, according to Juniper Research.

DPD UK recorded its biggest ever Cyber Weekend, with parcel volumes up 13% on last year.

Artificial intelligence startup Cosmose AI raised $12 million seed investment, led by TDJ Pitango and OTB Ventures, to fund its international expansion.

FlexPay, a Canadian FinTech that taps AI and machine learning tech to help merchants recover lost revenues from declined transactions, raised $6 million in a funding round led by Impression Ventures and also including BMO Capital Partners.