Ten big retail technology funding rounds you need to know about

RTIH rounds up the retail systems ventures who have recently bagged significant investments, including MakerSights, FullStory, refurbed, Cart.com, Suma Brands and Trendyol.

1. MakerSights

US-based retail analytics software startup, MakerSights, has announced a $25 million Series B investment headed up by G2 Venture Partners.

This follows the company’s $8.5 million Series A led by Forerunner Ventures in 2019 and $3.1 million in seed funding led by Baseline Ventures in 2017, bringing funding to a total of $37 million over the past five years.

Traditional retail is an environmental disaster. Brands lack the ability to accurately forecast demand, resulting in over producing products that end up in our landfills

With @MakerSights collaborative workflow tools, brands create more products that sell and fewer that don’t. pic.twitter.com/kgXaFtX206
— G2 Venture Partners (@G2VPLLC) August 4, 2021

2. Suma Brands

Suma Brands, which acquires brands selling and fulfilling their orders via Amazon, has bagged $150 million in funding in a Series A round headed up by Pace Capital and Material alongside a credit facility led by i80 Group.

The company launched last year and has been operating in stealth mode.

It will use the newly raised capital to accelerate its pace of acquisitions of Amazon FBA businesses and expand its portfolio of e-commerce brands.

It also intends to continue investing aggressively in its operating platform for growing acquired marketplace brands into household names.

3. FullStory

Digital experience intelligence specialist, FullStory, has secured $103 million in funding, valuing it at $1.8 billion.

The Series D round was led by Permira’s growth fund and included participation from all existing institutional investors, including Kleiner Perkins, GV, Stripes, Dell Technologies Capital, Salesforce Ventures, and Glynn Capital.

The cash will be used to expand FullStory’s business internationally and to enhance its platform, which helps companies build better digital products and experiences across web and mobile channels by providing real-time analytics and insights to product, customer success, engineering, and marketing teams.

Today, @FullStory announced it secured $100m in growth capital financing for its oversubscribed Series D round, led by Permira’s growth fund.

We’re delighted to be their partner in growth and look forward to supporting @scott_voigt and the entire team! https://t.co/Zh4NKqP3kl pic.twitter.com/pqhkZ7UGWl
— Permira (@PermiraNews) August 4, 2021

4. tabby

tabby, a buy now, pay later provider in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, has secured a $50 million Series B fund raise.

This values the company at $300 million.

Proceeds will help grow its product portfolio and expand into several new markets. Tabby integrates with retailer checkouts, enabling their customers to shop both online and at physical stores with interest free instalments.

The raise was led by Global Founders and STV. Delivery Hero, the German multinational, also invested - its first FinTech investment globally.

Hosam Arab, CEO and Co-founder, tabby, says: “With global players consolidating the MENA BNPL space, we are proud to continue building a local business and work with investors who understand its value. This investment will enable us to deliver the most rewarding and relevant shopping experience for regional consumers and retailers.”

متحمسون في تابي لإعلان إغلاق الجولة الاستثمارية الفئة ب (Series B) بقيمة ٥٠ مليون دولار بقيادة @Global_Founders @STVcapital
ومشاركة من @deliveryherocom و CCVA ومستثمري تابي الحاليين. pic.twitter.com/u8vAtxf3iq
— tabby | تابي (@paywithtabby) August 4, 2021

5. Patchworks

Gresham House Ventures has made a £3.3 million investment in Patchworks, a software company helping e-commerce businesses automate and manage data flows across backend systems.

This marks the former’s third investment in the last year in the digital consumer space, as it focuses on the technologies enabling D2C e-commerce offerings which it believes are crucial for the future of the retail sector.

It earlier backed shipping optimisation software provider Scurri and deals personalisation platform RevLifter.

The investment will enable Patchworks to bolster sales and marketing capabilities and advance product development, as the business looks to capitalise on the continued growth of e-commerce.

Patchworks was founded in 2014 and customers include Gymshark, Shopify and Zwift. Its software connects key e-commerce systems, including shop front, ERP, CRM and warehouse management, allowing businesses to simplify the integration of their technology stack.

6. refurbed

refurbed, a European marketplace for refurbished electronics, has closed a $54 million Series B funding round led by Evli Growth Partners and Almaz Capital.

This builds on a $17 million Series A round from last year.

7. Bluecore

Retail marketing technology venture Bluecore has closed a $125 million Series E funding round led by existing investor Georgian.

This brings its total funding to more than $225 million and puts its valuation at $1 billion.

The company will use the cash to accelerate its e-commerce product development and investment in AI and analytics.

8. Sona

Sona has raised a $2.2 million pre-seed round as it looks to accelerate the development and adoption of its app for retail employees.

This was led by Speedinvest, with participation from angel investors including Andy Leaver from Notion Capital, Lorenzo Franzi from Flash Ventures and several partners from Novator Partners.

UK-based Sona says that its platform, which digitises such day to day tasks as shift and holiday booking, is currently being piloted in two national retail brands ahead of a full launch next month.

9. Trendyol

Trendyol, a Turkey-based e-commerce platform, has raised $1.5 billion, valuing the company at $16.5 billion.

The new financing also makes it Turkey’s first decacorn. The round was co-led by General Atlantic, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Princeville Capital and sovereign wealth funds, ADQ (UAE) and Qatar Investment Authority.

It comes just months after strategic - and majority - backer Alibaba invested $350 million in the venture at a $9.4 billion valuation.

.@Trendyol, Turkey’s leading e-commerce platform, is now the country’s first Decacorn following a $1.5B investment co-led by GA. We will work with the Trendyol team to support and scale their marketplace model for consumers around the globe. https://t.co/qjHKTpBFc3 pic.twitter.com/hsArEwfFlg
— General Atlantic (@generalatlantic) August 9, 2021

10. Cart.com

Cart.com, which provides end-to-end e-commerce services, has announced a $98 million Series B round to bring its total funding to $143 million.

CEO Omair Tariq, who was previously an executive at Home Depot and COO at Blinds.com, co-founded the company in September 2020 with Jim Jacobson, former CEO at RTIC Outdoors.