Six stand out retail tech funding rounds in 2020

RTIH rounds up the retail technology ventures who have been making waves with major investments.

1. NearSt

British venture NearSt, whose technology links products on shop shelves in real-time to nearby customers searching in Google, has landed £2 million in seed funding.

2. Swiggy

Indian food delivery startup, Swiggy, has snagged $113 million as part of a funding round led by South African conglomerate Naspers.

3. HungryPanda

HungryPanda, a food delivery service for Chinese communities in cities around the world, has closed a $20 million funding round led by 83North and Felix Capital.

4. BharatPe

Indian venture BharatPe has announced a $75 million Series C funding round. The company has raised $140 million to date. Its service helps offline Indian merchants accept digital payments and secure working capital.

5. Sokowatch

Kenya-based Sokowatch has raised $14 million in Series A funding. The venture connects Africa’s informal retailers to local and multinational suppliers.

6. Chattermill

London-based Chattermill has closed an $8 million Series A round.

Its machine learning platform collects customer data from the likes of reviews and social media and delivers insight to decision makers while that data is still relevant. The company has worked with the likes of HelloFresh, Uber, Deliveroo and Zappos.

And an honourable mention to…

Israeli micro-fulfilment specialist Fabric, formerly known as CommonSense Robotics, has added Evolv Ventures, the investment arm of Kraft Heinz, to its $110 million Series B funding round.