Seven 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 Flink, buymie, Next, Storyblok, and GreyOrange.
1. Nexite
Nexite, whose Bluetooth tag and SaaS merchandise platform delivers real-time in-store sales intelligence aligned to customer behaviour, has raised $67 million in a Series C round of funding, and $100 million overall.
It plans to use both for R&D as well as to roll-out services to its first customers.
The funding round was led by Pitango Growth and Saban Ventures with participation from existing investors Battery Ventures, Intel Capital, Pitango First and Vertex Ventures.
2. buymie
Same-day grocery delivery firm, buymie, has completed a €7 million funding round.
With total funding to date now standing at €18.2 million, this latest investment was led by the company’s largest backers including Grosvenor Food & AgTech, Act Venture Capital, Sure Valley Ventures, Haatch Ventures, and HBAN.
Other notable investors in the round include Keith Weed, former Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Unilever and Eamonn Quinn, former Deputy Chairman at the Superquinn Group and Chairman of buymie.
3. MagaLoop
MagaLoop, a Berlin-based startup whose app-based ordering platform connects independent retailers directly with suppliers, has raised €9 million in funding.
The round was led by existing investors Market One Capital and FoodLabs.
Previous backers Redalpine Capital and Bitburger Ventures also participated alongside new investors Fuse Venture Partners, Créateurs de Convivialité Ventures and Hesta Investments.
MagaLoop, which was founded in 2018, will use the cash to expand its network of independent wholesalers and retailers and drive additional platform expansions.
4. Topship
Digital freight forwarding startup, Topship has announced a $2.5 million seed round.
This was led by Flexport with other backers including Y Combinator, Soma Capital, Starling Ventures, Olive Tree Capital, Capital X and True Capital.
Individual investors in the round includde Immad Akhund, Mercury CEO, and Arash Ferdowsi, Co-founder of Dropbox.
5. Flink
European quick commerce venture Flink is buying rival French firm Cajoo, with Carrefour, an early investor and exclusive retail partner of Cajoo, becoming a direct Flink shareholder and partner.
The Carrefour equity investment is around €60 million to €70 million, and values Flink at $5 billion post-money.
6. Storyblok
Storyblok, builder of a headless CMS designed both for technical and non-technical users like marketers to manage content that appears across websites, apps and other digital interfaces, has announced the close of a $47 million Series B funding round.
This was led by Mubadala Capital and HV Capital and joined by existing investors 3VC and firstminute capital. Storyblok previously raised $11 million.
The new funding will accelerate product innovation, growth into the US and Europe, as well as an expansion into APAC, and growth of the ecosystem of partners and apps.
7. GreyOrange
Blackrock Capital Group and Mithril Capital Management Group have invested a $110 million in robotic fulfilment and inventory optimisation software firm GreyOrange.
GreyOrange, which works with the likes of Walmart and H&M, says it will use the cash to “accelerate the company’s technology leadership, continue our global expansion and further support the adoption of our platform in warehouses, distribution centres and retail stores”.
The funding comes four years after a $140 million Series C round that brought the US-based company’s raise to $170 million.
“GreyOrange is trusted by the biggest names in retail to help them do what they do best, better,” says Ajay Royan, Managing General Partner at Mithril Capital Management.
“Demand for the its omnichannel fulfilment platform continued to increase consistent with our high expectations as retailers come to terms with the immediate necessity of robotic automation in fulfilment.”
“We are particularly excited about the expansion underway with GreyOrange’s SaaS applications, such as gStore, which deliver new and innovative supply chain solutions to discerning consumers across the customer base.”
