RTIH presents the retail technology week in numbers

Do you like numbers? Do you like retail systems news? Then this is the article for you. Including John Lewis Partnership, Wendy’s, Best Buy, The Very Group and the 2021 RTIH Innovation Awards.

14…2020 RTIH Innovation Awards winners included Asda, Glovo, MishiPay, Co-op, Mercaux, Bitreel, Ocucon and AO.

For a chance of joining them in our retail technology hall of fame, enter the 2021 awards, sponsored by PMC, StoreSpace and Critizr.

There are 14 categories this year, including Bricks and mortar innovation, Most innovative pureplay, Best coronavirus innovation, Startup of the year and Most Innovative Retailer.

$98 million…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.

$1.5 billion and $16.5 billion…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.

.@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

700…Wendy’s and REEF are partnering to open and operate 700 delivery kitchens over the next five years across the US, Canada and the United Kingdom.

This builds upon a test of eight dark kitchens in Canada beginning in late 2020. Through this commitment, SoftBank-backed Reef will become the first Wendy’s franchisee in the United Kingdom.

The pair expect to open approximately 50 delivery kitchens in 2021, with the remainder launched by 2025.

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

1 million…The John Lewis Partnership has inked a deal with Tesco to lease a one million sq ft distribution centre at Fenny Lock in Milton Keynes.

It says that the move will help it meet growing customer demand for online orders. Since the start of the Covid pandemic, online sales have grown from 40% to over 60% of John Lewis’s total sales.

The warehouse, leased for 11 years, will become its second largest distribution centre after its two million sq ft campus at Magna Park in Milton Keynes.

$10 million…Best Buy is set to invest up to $10 million with Brown Venture Group, a venture capital firm that focuses exclusively on black, latinx and indigenous startups in the emerging technologies space.

Best Buy commits up to $10M investment with Brown Venture Group for BIPOC startups https://t.co/58vyoViOfR pic.twitter.com/HeaeRNhisw
— Best Buy News (@BBYNews) August 5, 2021

$2.2 million…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.

2,000…E-commerce out of home delivery and returns venture, InPost, has announced deployment of its 2,000th automated parcel machine - or locker unit - in the UK.

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

11…The Very Group, operator of online retailers Very.co.uk and Littlewoods.com, has welcomed 11 new recruits to its customer care, tech bar and colleague experience teams as part of the UK government’s Kickstart scheme.

34.6%…Footfall on UK high streets declined by 34.6% in July (Yo2Y), 1.2 percentage points below June’s rate and below the three month average decline of 34.1%, according to research from BRC and Sensormatic Solutions.

Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive at British Retail Consortium, says: “After improvements in footfall in the early part of 2021, the situation has plateaued with little change in footfall levels for a third month in a row.”

3…Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur has announced a three-year sponsorship deal with Turkish rapid grocery delivery startup Getir.