RTIH presents ten innovative retail technology startups to watch out for in 2023
Specialising in the likes of video shopping apps and product visualisation and augmented reality solutions, these startups should be on your radars over the next 12 months.
1. Advanced Commerce
Wealth Club recently led a £1.5 million investment round, raising £1.3 million under the UK Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) for Advanced Commerce, a visual merchandising platform for online retailers such as LK Bennett and The Conran Shop.
Advanced Commerce is the brainchild of André Brown who previously founded Attraqt - a merchandising platform used by over 300 enterprise retail clients, from Asos to The White Company and Screwfix - and subsequently helped it float on AIM in 2014.
This was the second fundraise by Wealth Club, after raising £1.3 million in late 2021, co-investing alongside institutional investor, Haatch Ventures.
2. HyperFinity
Winner in the Startup of the Year (UK) category at the 2022 RTIH Innovation Awards, HyperFinity uses decision intelligence to help retailers sell the right products, to the right people, for the right price.
Retailers tap Its software platform to make great commercial decisions across product range, pricing and promotion, marketing and media, e-commerce and supply chain.
3. Ocula Technologies
Highly commended in the Startup of the Year (UK) category at the 2022 RTIH Innovation Awards, Ocula Technologies is a SaaS startup with the goal of allowing all retailers the opportunity to harness the power of AI to enable data driven decisions and quickly optimise its platform.
It wants to give retailers without in-house data science teams, the ability to access the benefits of AI and not get left behind by the likes of Amazon and Alibaba.
4. Cart.com
Winner in the Startup of the Year (Rest of World) category, Omair Tariq founded Cart.com in November 2020 to level the playing field in e-commerce for brands of all sizes seeking to compete with the digital giants who dominate this trillion dollar channel.
The company brought to market an e-commerce-as-a-service platform that today supports 6,000 brands and 29 million products for retailers that range from adidas, Guess and Bare Minerals to born in the pandemic brands like HalfDays and Rowing Blazers.
The offering includes search and social feed management, omnichannel management, digital advertising, inventory management, online storefront and fulfilment.
5. Trendio
Former Vice President of US Prime Video Alex Perez-Tenessa and entrepreneur David Olmos recently launched Trendio, a video shopping app that lets users view personalised shoppable content.
The startup has also brought in former Amazon Live employee Julie Novak and former Glossier executive Leah Grubb to shape the platform.
With seed round investment from venture capital firm Madrona, an early backer of Amazon, the Trendio team compiled an advisory board including former Member of the Board of QVC Michael Zeisser, founder of Amazon Live Munira Rahemtulla, and former CEO of Zulily Jeff Yurcisin.
According to a press release: “Trendio is grounded in the belief that the modern consumer wants more out of the beauty discovery experience and that AI enhanced video is the best avenue to meet that need.”
“In addition to iOS and Android, the Trendio app can be downloaded on Roku, making it the only startup to seamlessly merge content and commerce on connected TV.”
"We're reinventing shopping entertainment for a new generation," says Perez-Tenessa.
"We launched Trendio because traditional e-commerce wasn't working for customers who wanted to discover new beauty brands and products in a way that felt personal and that they could trust.”
“Our technology roadmap not only enhances the shopping journey, it reinvents how people experience video altogether - we are creating the first ever personalised video experience."
6. bodo
RTIH recently got the lowdown on bodo, which was founded by former CloudKitchens and Deliveroo executives and offers e-commerce brands a plug-in that facilitates one hour and same-day delivery directly from their website or store.
Founders Jack Green and Brandon Neman told us: “We’ve just announced our $2.3 million seed round, which was led by BAM Ventures, alongside angels such as sweetgreen founder and CEO Jonathan Neman, serial investor Kal Vepuri, and Jon Shokrian, Founder and CEO of MeUndies.”
“In 2023 we will broaden bodo's technology offering and expand our network of micro-fulfilment hubs, with our third UK warehouse on its way. We will also be expanding into more UK cities as well as into the US market.”
7. Ambl
Ambl - a platform matching diners and drinkers with hospitality venue availability - recently closed a £1 million funding raise and officially launched.
Founded in 2021, the London-based startup’s app geographically matches people looking for an immediately available venue, with real-time capacity within a 30-minute time window.
The investment came from hospitality industry heavyweights including Paul McKenna, Jon Spiteri and serial entrepreneur Mark Gordon. It was Ambl’s fourth pre-seed funding round with total investment to date sitting at £2.3 million.
8. Atoa
PayTech startup Atoa has announced a $2.2 million pre-seed funding round led by Leo Capital and Passion Capital.
This also included angel investors such as Matt Robinson (co-founder of GoCardless and Nested) alongside Moon Capital Ventures.
Anil Stocker, Co-Founder and CEO of MarketFinance also serves as a company advisor.
Atoa, which went live in June of last year, argues that Mastercard and Visa payment rails have an effective duopoly in the market which enables them to get away with net margins as high as 51% at the expense of small merchants and their customers.
On top of this, card machine providers charge small businesses up to 1.75%.
Atoa claims that it is building an alternative for small businesses to accept payments at a fraction of those costs and to improve their cash flow meaningfully at the same time.
Businesses download the firm’s app and connect their merchant bank account. Set up takes less than five minutes, after which the merchant can accept payments via SMS, Pay-by Link or by displaying a QR code on their Atoa app or physical QR stand next to their till.
At the same time, their customers do not need to download a separate app to pay. Anyone with a UK mobile banking app on their phone can pay via Atoa.
They scan the merchant’s QR code or clicks on the link sent by the merchant, select their bank and then are redirected to their existing mobile bank app to approve the payment.
9. Penny Black
Penny Black, an e-commerce platform that turns packaging into a marketing channel, has received £1.3 million in seed funding from AGFA and ninepointfive.
Incubated in AGFA’s innovation lab, supported by ninepointfive, Penny Black launched independently in the UK and Europe in April.
Its software connects e-commerce stores, marketing tools and fulfilment operations to deliver personalised experiences at the moment customers open their e-commerce packages.
The startup works with the likes of luxury jewellery and watch retailer, PAUL VALENTINE, tea mixology company, Bird & Blend and the online nursery décor store, the Modern Nursery.
Penny Black has also partnered with global e-commerce fulfilment providers, like Radial and Cloud Fulfillment, as well as marketing automation firm Klaviyo.
10. TalkShopLive
Live commerce platform TalkShopLive and JLo Beauty recently launched their first ever shoppable video in partnership with Vogue’s Beauty Secrets video series.
This is hosted by Vogue’s December cover star Jennifer Lopez who shares her beauty regimen featuring JLo Beauty, and also exclusively debuts two new JLo Body products which are available for purchase within the TalkShopLive video player.
“No one creates more compelling content than Conde Nast and TalkShopLive is thrilled to be part of Vogue’s first ever shoppable Beauty Secrets episode with Jennifer Lopez,” says TalkShopLive Co-Founder and CEO Bryan Moore.
“We’re committed to connecting the retail landscape through engaging content via our embeddable player and point of sale which serves as the ultimate live commerce solution for brands, publishers, creators and consumers."
“We not only strive for innovation in our products, but also in how we connect with our consumers, and we feel strongly that shoppable, authentic content is the next generation of e-commerce,” says JLo Beauty & Lifestyle Founder Lisa Sequino.
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