Six retail technology funding rounds you need to know about
RTIH rounds up the retail systems ventures who have been making waves with major investments, including Sona, Everl, Zhiyi Tech, and Productsup.
1. Sona
Workforce management software startup Sona has announced a $6.8 million seed round.
This was led by Google’s Gradient Ventures and comes just four months after the company’s pre-seed raise.
In six months, Sona has built and launched its platform to an early set of customers, covering over 10,000 deskless workers within the UK and Ireland.
The London-based venture has now raised an aggregate $9 million since August 2021.
It will use the investment to triple its team, with a particular focus on engineering and product development, and to continue its growth trajectory.
2. Zhiyi Tech
Zhiyi Tech, a Chinese firm that help brands better predict what and how to sell through their live commerce stores, has raised close to $100 million from three rounds of funding led respectively by GL Ventures - Hillhouse Capital’s early stage arm, Zoo Capital, Xianghe Capital and CE Innovation Capital.
This builds on the “tens of millions of dollars” Zhiyi raised from a Series A round in 2018.
3. Triple Whale
Triple Whale, an analytics platform for Shopify brands, has raised $27.7 million in an extended Series A, the company’s first announced funding round since its foundation in May 2021.
This consists of a $24 million investment led by Elephant VC, alongside a previously undisclosed $2.7 million seed round led by NFX, and an additional $1 million raised with participation from individual investor Shaan Puri.
The cash is being used to expand the company’s development team and integrate additional components into its platform.
4. Everl
European online grocery marketplace, Everli, has secured an additional €22 million in funding led by new investor United Ventures, as part of its Series C round.
Fabio Pirovano, Partner of United Ventures' fund UV T-Growth, comments: "Few sectors have evolved as rapidly as grocery retail in recent years.”
“We've been following Everli's progress with interest for a while, and we are thrilled to support the company in the next phase of its international expansion through our growth fund.”
“We are looking forward to working together with the team as they pursue their mission of creating the largest online grocery European platform."
5. Productsup
P2C software company, Productsup, has announced a Series B funding round of more than $70 million (€65 million) led by Bregal Milestone and Nordwind Capital.
The investment will enable it to advance product development, target merger and acquisition opportunities, strengthen its partner network, and expand to new markets.
6. Proximity Insight
Gresham House Ventures has invested £5 million into retail tech firm Proximity Insight.
Proximity Insight was co-founded by Salesforce experts, Kris Moyse, and Matt Lacey, and is led by CEO and Co-founder, Cathy McCabe, previously VP of Customer & Payments at luxury fashion house Burberry and CIO at British fashion brand Jaeger.
Using the venture’s app, retail teams can get to know each customer through their profile, displaying their preferences, trends, and purchase history.
They can then use the solution’s functionality to communicate, serve, and transact with customers from a single tool.
