Six retail technology funding rounds you need to know about
RTIH rounds up the retail systems ventures whose funding rounds have been making headlines, including Klarna, XY Retail, SleekFlow, and Flexe.
1. XY Retail
PoS and omnichannel commerce solution startup XY Retail has closed a $4 million seed round led by Monta Vista Capital with participation from Stage 1 Ventures.
The cash will be used to accelerate the company’s global roll-out of its XY platform to luxury brands.
The aim is to help them digitise their enterprises and manage their entire global retail operations— from data decisioning, stock management, and order fulfilment to hyper-personalising the clienteling and merchandising experience.
2. Flexe
Warehousing technology venture Flexe has raised a $119 million Series D round to push its valuation past $1 billion.
Investors included BlackRock and Tiger Global.
The company tweeted: “This news is a significant milestone! Most importantly, it demonstrates how the largest enterprises strategically embrace logistics flexibility.”
3. Retail Rocket
Retail Rocket, a retention management platform for brands, has raised €23.2 million in a Series A round led by Flintera.
In addition to the fundraising, it has acquired SailPlay, a startup developing software to help retailers build loyalty programmes and send mass message campaigns.
4. SleekFlow
SaaS omnichannel social commerce platform startup, SleekFlow, has launched its new UK operation following an $8 million Series A funding round.
This was led by New York-based venture capital firm Tiger Global Partners.
SleekFlow will use the cash for market penetration in Southeast Asia, specifically in Singapore and Malaysia, while extending its presence to the UK, Europe, and other emerging markets.
The investment will also go towards product development within FinTech and analytics to uncover emerging trends in the one-click checkout process on popular social media platforms across all dimensions, such as centralised product listing and easy in-chat payments.
5. Logiwa
Logiwa, a cloud fulfilment platform for high-volume direct-to-consumer (DTC) and omnichannel businesses, has bagged $16.4 million in a Series B round.
The financing will enable the company to continue developing its platform and capitalise on what it describes as “the shift to e-commerce and the need for new flexible solutions with faster implementation times”.
The investment was led by NewRoad Capital Partners. Existing backers, Valor Siren Ventures, Runway Venture Partners, Spider Capital and Launch Capital also participated.
“As e-commerce order volumes and consumer expectations continue to grow, it’s clear that innovative solutions will be needed to keep up with the needs of DTC warehousing,” says Chris Sultemeier, Operating Partner at NewRoad Capital Partners and former EVP of Logistics at Walmart.
“Logiwa’s WMS is very well suited for high-volume operations and their commitment to innovation makes them an excellent partner for the future as retail markets continue to evolve.”
Following this round, Sultemeier will join Logiwa’s board of directors.
6. Klarna
On 1st July, the Wall Street Journal reported that Swedish buy now, pay later big hitter Klarna was raising $650 million at a $6.5 billion valuation.
Sounds great until you take in to account that, in June 2021, the company was valued at $45.6 billion after closing on a $639 million round of funding, making it the highest valued private FinTech in Europe at that time. Ouch!
