The five most important retail technology stories of the week
It’s Thursday, we’re heading into the Easter weekend, so let’s kick back and reflect on another eventful week for the retail technology space. Here's your briefing on the most important stories from the past few days.
1. Getir achieves unicorn status with big funding round
Getir, a Turkish grocery delivery startup, has completed a $300 million Series C funding round, led by Sequoia Capital and repeat investor Tiger Global.
This closely follows a $128 million Series B round and values the company at $2.6 billion.
2. Tesco tests out Google local inventory ads feature
Tesco is working on an epic project involving Google’s local inventory ads feature.
This allows companies to showcase their products and shop information to nearby people searching with Google.
When shoppers click an ad or free listing that shows their local product, they arrive on a Google-hosted page for the shop, called the local shop front. They can use this to view in-store inventory, see opening times, find directions etc.
3. Amazon slams critics as tax and working practices criticism intensifies
Amazon’s social media team have gone after some of the e-commerce giant’s biggest critics in US political circles: Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Mark Pocan.
4. Albertsons Cos and Google announce grocery shopping tech tie up
Albertsons Companies and Google have announced a multi-year omnichannel customer experience partnership.
The two have been collaborating behind the scenes for the past year and are now debuting several new features that aim to make the shopping experience easier and more exciting.
5. Otrium eyes unicorn status and preps US expansion
Otrium, a marketplace which helps fashion and clothing brands sell excess inventory that would otherwise go unsold, has announced a $120 million funding round co-led by BOND and Index Ventures.
This values the five-year-old company at roughly $900 million.
The Dutch startup plans to use the funding to help it expand in the US, where it recently launched its e-commerce service. It is already present in 11 markets in Europe, including the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain.
