Ten retail technology firms that have powered ahead in 2021
It’s been a pretty, pretty good year for these retail tech ventures who are innovating in such areas as checkout free stores, 3D commerce, rapid grocery delivery, e-commerce fulfilment and shoppertainment platforms.
1. Aifi
Carrefour opened a Flash 10/10 concept store in Paris on 24th November.
The convenience store – developed in collaboration with US startup AiFi – is pitched as the first of its kind in France, and is located at 11 avenue Parmentier, in the capital’s eleventh arrondissement.
Flash 10/10 ("10 seconds to shop and 10 seconds to pay”) features a shopping journey that does not involve having to scan any products and quick payment.
Customers don't need to take items out of their bags. They can enter and exit the store without having to pass through a gateway. There is no need to download an app or register beforehand. And they can view their total spend in real-time.
2. Firework
Shoppertainment platform venture, Firework, announced a new partnership with Albertsons Companies.
The food and drug giant is the first US grocer to utilise the Firework platform, bringing online shoppers shoppable, short-form and livestream video experiences.
Firework has also received an undisclosed investment from Amex Ventures.
“We invest in ideas that are transforming the everyday for consumers and businesses globally,” commented Harshul Sanghi, Global Head at Amex Ventures.
“Firework is building the infrastructure to power next generation digital shopping and e-commerce experiences. We believe Firework is positioned at the cutting-edge of e-commerce, enabling companies to interact with their customers in new and exciting ways.”
3. Getir
Turkish rapid grocery delivery venture Getir is set to acquire UK founded rival Weezy.
Earlier this year, Weezy raised $20 million in Series A funding to expand its ultra fast grocery delivery service across London and the UK.
Founded in 2015, Getir launched in the UK in January and delivers across London, Birmingham, Manchester, Brighton, Cardiff, Liverpool and Bristol. It expects to operate in up to 15 UK cities by the end of 2021.
Also in 2021, Getir concluded a Series D funding round, raising over $550 million and taking the company's valuation to over $7.5 billion.
Investors included Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital, Silver Lake, DisruptAD, and Mubadala Investment Company.
This marked Getir's third round of investment in 2021, with nearly $1 billion raised since the beginning of the year. It is utilising the latest capital injection to fuel its expansion into the United States.
4. Trigo
Autonomous shopping venture Trigo ended 2020 with a $60 million Series B funding round led by 83North.
2021 saw it team with such big hitters as Aldi Nord, Tesco and REWE.
5. Selazar
In November, e-commerce fulfilment startup Selazar announced a £20 million investment that, it said, would significantly increase its valuation, enhance its UK network and fund expansion into Europe, the US, and Latin America.
The funding will also see Selazar, which launched in 2019, offer additional e-commerce fulfilment technology and financial services to customers.
The investment by an unnamed “large global investment group”, will initially see the Northern Ireland-based venture open new warehouses in Ireland and the Netherlands, followed by four additional facilities in the United States and one each in Mexico and Colombia, respectively.
The capital injection adds to an initial seed investment from Foresight Group, Invest Northern Ireland and angel investors in November 2019.
6. Jisp
In November, Nisa Retail doubled the number of stores participating in Jisp’s Scan & Save roll-out, bringing the total number to 25.
The announcement came on the back of an eight-week pilot, with nearly 400 customers making over 12,700 scans, 5,800 taps and 3,300 redemptions on 65 products.
James Taylor, Head of Central Operations at Nisa, commented: “The response to the Scan & Save initiative has been absolutely brilliant and it’s great that we’ve been able to increase the number of Nisa partners getting involved in the service.”
“Scan and Save is an excellent way of improving engagement with shoppers which is so important to the local, independent retailers we work with.”
7. Uncrowd
Arete recently led a £3 million investment into customer analytics startup Uncrowd.
Begin and Matrix Capital also participated in the round.
This builds on a a £500,000 seed funding round in 2020. Uncrowd Co-founder Richard Hammond has over 30 years’ experience in the retail sector and is the author of Friction/reward: Be your Customer’s First Choice.
This became the framework for the venture’s business model, following a collaboration of ideas with fellow Co-founder and friend of 21 years, Rocky Howard.
The company is currently working with a number of brands in the UK and the US. The deal with Arete will enable Uncrowd to further develop its platform and expand its team.
8. Marxent
B&Q (working with Marxent) has gone from offering a siloed in-store kitchen planning service, to a new omnichannel approach to creating customers’ dream homes.
The retailer has deployed a cloud-based 3D Kitchen Planner that enables retail staff to work in-person or virtually with shoppers looking to remodel or design a kitchen.
Also this year, Marxent has teamed with PlaceMakers and American Furniture Warehouse.
9. Hullabalook
Hullabalook's technology went live on B&Q’s website in 2021.
“We're powering B&Q paint product discovery experience online. 2,000+ shades, available online, mixed to order and ready for you to buy,” Abena Osei, Global Account Manager at Hullabalook, said in a LinkedIn post.
“This is the first time B&Q’s huge range of Valspar mixed to order paints have been available to purchase online.”
Osei added: “Our Colour Technology has mapped all 2.000+ shades onto an interactive grid. Choose any colour and we will automatically render it onto a lifestyle image - so you can visualise how it’ll look at home. Shade selected? Click through to the product page and purchase instantly.”
“There's a new, revolutionary way to buy paint and Hullabalook is paving the way. We're are so excited about this partnership!”
Hullabalook has also been shortlisted in the Technology implementation of the year (UK) category at the 2021 RTIH Innovation Awards.
It has teamed with Sofology to build ‘Create Your Look’, a 2D room builder which lets customers explore the retailer’s full product range in one place, and create exciting product combinations in room settings to help really visualise what products will look best in their homes.
10. Buyk
Buyk, a startup that promises grocery delivery from dark store to doorstep within 15 minutes, announced a Stateside expansion into Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, following a launch in Manhattan during September.
Buyk was founded by Slava Bocharov and Rodion Shishkov. The pair also co-founded Samokat, Russia’s largest grocery delivery company, in 2018 before selling their stake to fund Buyk.
The aforementioned move brought the company’s total number of dark stores to 20. It is first targeting all five boroughs of New York City, and then other major metropolitan areas across the US.
Elsewhere, Buyk appointed James Walker, former Senior Vice President for Restaurants at Nathan’s Famous, as CEO.
In an interview with RTIH this year, Bocharov said: “The garbage collectors come each week. Public buses, trains and metro services transport you from destination to destination – it all works like clockwork.”
“But somehow, grocery shopping still runs on an outdated model, where we are expected to take an hour or two long break from our lives to trudge out to an over-sized supermarket once or twice a week. It’s a chore, placing an unnecessary burden on consumers.”
He added: “By the same token, traditional online grocery delivery doesn’t solve this issue. Next day delivery options still require planning and don't deliver the instant result you need.”
“Imagine if you tried to pour yourself a glass of tap water, but the water didn’t start flowing until the next day – no one would accept this, so why should we be forced to for groceries?”
“This is why we consider Buyk to be more than a company – we are infrastructure, providing what is now an essential service in our busy lives.”
