RTIH presents the retail technology week in numbers — Retail Technology Innovation Hub

Do you like numbers? Do you like the latest retail systems news? Then this is the article for you. Including M&S Tech, Square/Afterpay, Gopuff, eBay and Alibaba Group.

£3.3 million…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.

$2.5 billion and $6 billion…DoorDash, the US’s largest food delivery company, is set to take a stake in Gorillas, the Germany-based grocery delivery startup.

Gorillas is seeking to raise hundreds of millions of dollars of funding at a valuation of about $2.5 billion, far below the $6 billion it was previously working towards, according to media reports.

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

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

$150 million…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.

200…English Premier League club Chelsea F.C. has deployed Fiserv’s Clover platform.

More than 200 Clover PoS devices and handheld Clover Flex devices have been rolled out to enable contact free purchases at stadium food and beverage outlets, and for match day programmes, museum entrance and stadium tours.

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

72…The English Football League (EFL) has announced a three-year partnership ahead of the start of the 2021/22 season with eBay that will celebrate local businesses in communities around all 72 EFL clubs.

Through the launch of Small Businesses United, the tie up will see eBay donate advertising space at EFL grounds to the small businesses on its marketplace.

70…Marks and Spencer has kicked off a drive to recruit 70 software engineers over the next year as the retailer looks to boost its digital transformation push.

In support of this, it has launched a new bespoke careers page on its website called M&OS.

1.18 billion…Alibaba Group has announced its June quarter 2021 results.

Global annual active consumers across its ecosystem reached 1.18 billion, an increase of 45 million from the March quarter, which includes 912 million consumers in China.

$BABA reports June Quarter 2021 Results: https://t.co/ELuuoxD5gA
— Alibaba Group (@AlibabaGroup) August 3, 2021

$19.4 billion…E-commerce transaction values via voice assistants will reach $19.4 billion by 2023, rising from $4.6 billion in 2021, according to Juniper Research.

It predicts that the availability of voice assistant devices with screens will be imperative to increasing the monetisation of voice assistant commerce services, by improving the efficiency of the checkout process.

A quarter of Christmas celebrating Brits will have started thinking about their shopping before the end of August, according to research from eBay Ads UK.

The company surveyed 2,005 UK consumers and also found that people anticipate a more ordinary festive season than last year.

$1 billion and $15 billion…Rapid grocery delivery startup, Gopuff, has raised $1 billion in a Series H round that values the US-based venture at $15 billion.

$29 billion…Square, the payments venture founded by Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, has reached a deal to acquire Australian buy now, pay later provider Afterpay in an all-stock deal worth about $29 billion.

Afterpay + Square! https://t.co/4UVDOtyI8a
— jack (@jack) August 1, 2021

$887 million…Luxembourg’s National Commission for Data Protection (CNPD) has hit Amazon with a $887 million GDPR fine over the way it uses customer data for targeted advertising purposes.

Amazon revealed this in an SEC filing in which it slammed the decision as baseless and said it would to defend itself “vigorously in this matter.”

141…Shoppers in the Midlands and East Anglia can now order groceries online from 141 Central England Co-op stores and have them delivered to their homes in as little as 30 minutes, thanks to a partnership with Snappy Shopper.

In the mood for trying something new? Give this chicken tandoori flatbread recipe a go, we're sure you won't be disappointed. 😋

Download the @SnappyShopperUK app to get your ingredients within the hour. pic.twitter.com/BfUsKHKrBw
— Central England Coop (@mycoopfood) July 23, 2021

£3 million…Buy now pay later big hitter Klarna has launched a new £3 million small business support package to help British SMEs recover from the pandemic.

One in seven UK shops remain shuttered, with vacancy rates rising across all retail locations, according to research from the BRC and LDC.