Ten stand out retail technology funding rounds
RTIH rounds up the retail systems ventures who have been making waves with major investments, including Zippin, Flip, Peak AI, Heroes and Olsam.
1. Jane Technologies
Online cannabis marketplace startup, Jane Technologies, has closed a $100 million Series C funding round.
This was led by Honor Ventures with participation from Third Point Ventures, Gotham Green Partners, L2 Ventures, Delta Emerald Ventures and Artemis Growth Partners.
Jane previously landed $30 million in funding, bringing the total amount of capital raised to roughly $130 million.
2. Zippin
US startup Zippin has raised $30 million in Series B funding from new and existing investors including OurCrowd, Maven Ventures, Evolv Ventures and SAP.
This brings the checkout free store venture’s total funding to more than $45 million.
Zippin says that the latest funding round will enable it to scale its platform and power tens of thousands of stores by 2025.
Customers include food service providers Aramark Corporation and Compass Group, Japan’s third largest convenience store chain Lawson, and Brazilian retailer Americanas.
3. Flip
Social commerce startup Flip has closed a $28 million Series A round led by Streamlined Ventures.
Mubadala Capital Ventures and BDMI also participated in the round, alongside early backers and angel investors. Individual investors included Ruby Lu, an early backer of Chinese social commerce platform Kuaishou.
Flip, which was founded in 2021 and connects beauty product shoppers to products, content, and community through video reviews, says it will use the funding to “scale its brand offering and creator ecosystem, while deepening its end-to-end logistics platform”.
4. Peak
Artificial Intelligence startup Peak has announced a $75 million Series C funding round led by new investor SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
There was also participation from all existing backers, including MMC Ventures, Oxx, Praetura Ventures, Arete and Octopus Ventures. This brings Peak’s total funding raised to date to $119 million.
The cash will fuel global expansion, with new offices opening in both the USA and India, as well as increasing R&D investment in Peak’s decision intelligence software.
As a result, it is planning to create more than 200 new jobs globally in the coming year.
5. Borzo
Same day delivery service, WeFast, has changed its name to Borzo and bagged $35 million in a Series C funding round.
Investors include Mubadala, VNV Global, RDIF, and Flashpoint Venture Capital.
"We always believed on-demand delivery would become a new normal as it's beneficial for all parties involved and we're glad it's happening," says Mike Alexandrovski, Founder, Borzo.
"With the new round closed we continue to move toward our goal of becoming one of the top courier delivery companies in every market we operate in.”
“To achieve this goal we believe it's important to ensure operational synchronicity and integrity of the company's brand perception, and that's why we rebranded it to Borzo."
6. Heroes
Heroes, which buys up third-party merchants on Amazon’s Marketplace, has picked up $200 million, money that it will mainly be using to buy more merchants.
Crayhill Capital Management is providing the funding.
Heroes launched in November of last year with $65 million in funding. Other investors in the startup include 360 Capital, Fuel Ventures and Upper 90.
7. Olsam
Olsam, a company which buys and scales e-commerce businesses, has secured $165 million in a Series A round.
Founded by an ex-Amazon marketplace team, it says it will use the capital to “rapidly acquire larger brands from global entrepreneurs seeking a reliable buyer with deep operational expertise for their companies”.
The cash will also be used to expand its operations team across its core markets and to continue investing in its proprietary operating tech platform, as well as deepen its brand IP and patent protection across multiple geographies, including China.
8. Cajoo
French delivery venture Cajoo has raised a $40 million Series A funding round from various investors including supermarket giant Carrefour, and VC firms Frst, Xange and Headline.
9. Skeps
Skeps, a Point of Sale technology venture, has closed a Series A funding round of $9.5 million, led by Bertelsmann India Investments. Existing investor Accel also participated.
The company intends to use the funds to expand its sales, marketing, engineering, and product teams, grow its merchant and lender client base, and broaden services offered to customers.
10. arive
arive, a new player in the booming rapid delivery space, has raised €6 million in seed funding from Balderton Capital, 468 Capital and La Famiglia VC.
The German startup delivers high end consumer products within 30 minutes.
Shoppers submit an order on an app, which is then picked by arive staff in city warehouses, before being delivered by a bike only fleet.
Currently available in Munich, Berlin, Frankfurt and Hamburg, the service is set to expand internationally before the end of the year.
