Retail technology funding rounds that should be on your radar
RTIH rounds up the retail systems ventures who have been making waves with major investments, including Misfits Market, SellersFunding, Pine Labs and Sendcloud.
1. Misfits Market
Misfits Market, a US-based e-commerce platform specialising in the delivery of food that would otherwise be wasted, has closed a $225 million Series C-1, bringing its valuation to $2 billion and total equity raised to $526.5 million.
SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led the round with participation from current investor Accel.
As part of the Series C-1, Lydia Jett, an investor and Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, will join Misfits Market's board of directors.
2. SellersFunding
SellersFunding, which provides financial solutions for sellers on Amazon, Shopify, Walmart and other marketplaces, has secured $166.5 million in a combination of equity and credit facility, with a Series A round led by Northzone, and also involving Endeavor Catalyst and Fasanara.
The investment will see SellersFunding enhance its technology and payments platforms, and support its operational and international expansion.
As a US headquartered company, SellersFunding will continue to expand across North America, and also the United Kingdom, continental Europe and Australia.
The cash will also be used to bolster sales and marketing efforts.
3. Sendcloud
E-commerce shipping platform venture, Sendcloud, has closed a $177 million Series C funding round.
This was led by Softbank Vision Fund 2 with a “significant” strategic investment from L Catterton and participation from HPE Growth.
Sendcloud will use the capital to accelerate growth, continue to expand its international presence, and fuel global adoption of its platform. It currently has 400 employees and plans to hire another 250 in the next 12 months.
As part of the funding round, Neil Cunha-Gomes and Monika Wilk, both Investors at Softbank Investment Advisers, will join the company's board of directors alongside L Catterton's Ido Krakowsky.
4. Pine Labs
Asian merchant commerce platform Pine Labs has raised an additional $100 million, hot on the heels of securing $600 million in a financing round in July.
Invesco Developing Markets Fund made the investment. Pine Labs, which started life in India, was valued at $3 billion in its July financing round.
5. Embargo
Loyalty app Embargo has raised $1.1 million.
Notable individuals who are invested in the business include angel investor and founder of DesignMyNight, Nick Telson; founder of Asda backed Lean Kitchen Networks, Faraz Nagree; serial restaurateur Loui Blake; and the founders of HEX Digital.
Embargo reports significant growth during the pandemic. While Covid-19 has been damaging to the majority of hospitality venues, it has also forced these businesses to consider how they can better engage with and reward loyal customers.
Over the past 12 months the number of coffee shops and restaurants using Embargo has increased by over 300, reaching more than 800 locations on the platform. Clients include Crosstown Doughnuts, Notes Coffee and Bars and The Gentlemen Baristas.
Nagree says: “I loved the unique concept, the team, the user traction and how users are responding through high engagement. Loyalty is about perfect execution and building a solution the customers love. Embargo is the one who got it right.”
"We looked around on the market and couldn’t find a better, simpler loyalty solution. Therefore investing in the business was an easy decision.”
6. Constructor
Constructor, a specialist in e-commerce search and product discovery solutions, has announced a $55 million Series A funding round led by Silversmith Capital Partners, on the heels of partnering with such retailers as Sephora and Backcountry.
"Constructor is our trusted product discovery partner for its unmatched results, analytics, and true partnership," says Venkatesh Ananthanarayanan, VP of Engineering at Backcountry.com.
"Building search and discovery in-house today is expensive from the standpoint of both people management and infrastructure hosting.”
“It's now abundantly clear e-commerce companies like ours get much better user experiences and ROI from using solutions like Constructor compared to reinventing the wheel in-house.”
Ananthanarayanan adds: “Even more importantly, while competitors struggle to solve yesterday's search problems, leveraging Constructor enables us to build on top of it and create the truly unique, personalised, and differentiated experiences of tomorrow.”
“Best of all, the service is easy to test, so we know for certain that Constructor is returning much more revenue to us than what we pay for the service."
