Six stand out retail technology funding rounds
RTIH rounds up the retail systems ventures who have been making waves with major investments, including Joyned, Beacon, Juni and Pandion.
1. Joyned
Joyned, a SaaS platform enabling retailers to provide social shopping experiences directly to their consumers rather than through third-party platforms, has secured $4 million in seed funding.
This included: Arthur Stark, former President, Bed Bath & Beyond; Yair Goldfinger, Founder of Dotomi and ICQ; and Rafael Ashkenazi, Managing Director, Executive Chairman, Hard Rock Digital, and former CEO of The Stars Group.
The cash will be used to expand Jerusalem-based Joyned's US presence and scale its business to help meet the demand for its product among fashion, travel and consumer electronics retailers.
2. TrusTrace
TrusTrace, developer of a platform for supply chain transparency and product traceability within the fashion, food and retail industries, has bagged a $6 million Series A investment led by Industrifonden and Fairpoint Capital, together with previous backers BackingMinds, and with support from Fashion for Good.
The new capital will be used to accelerate global expansion, expand product development, and strengthen the venture’s team.
Founded in 2016, TrusTrace, which to date has raised $8 million in total, has a portfolio of more than 40 customers, including Fjällräven, Filippa K, Zalando, Decathlon and Coop.
3. Beacon
Digital supply chain and freight platform venture, Beacon, has raised over $50 million in a Series B round, led by Northstar.vc.
Upper90 also participated as a new investor, alongside existing backers including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
The cash will be used to grow Beacon’s team, continue the development of its technology and expand into new markets.
4. Pandion
US-based e-commerce delivery startup Pandion has announced $30 million in new funding, consisting of a $22.5 million Series A and a $7.5 million add-on investment.
The startup’s founder and CEO is Scott Ruffin, who was the head of Amazon Air for almost five years.
He has also served as Vice President and Head of Walmart's e-commerce transportation business.
5. Juni
Juni, a neobank built specifically for e-commerce ventures, has secured $52 million in funding led by EQT Ventures.
This adds to the $21 million raised from a Series A round in late June. It boosts Juni’s Series A round to $73 million and takes total funding to date to $76 million.
The company will use the cash to triple the number of its employees and launch an integrated credit line product to its users.
6. Karma
Karma, a browser-based AI shopping assistant and shopping network, has closed a $25 million Series A round led by Target Global, followed by MoreTech Ventures, with participation from existing investors including NFX and Altair Capital.
Karma will use the cash to grow its team, double down on AI, machine learning and predictive analytics, scale its user base, and expand into other market opportunities.
