Backing market disruptors: Five retail technology funding rounds you need to know about
RTIH rounds up the retail systems ventures who have recently wrapped notable funding rounds, including Ubamarket, NotCo, and Advanced Commerce.
1. Pixyle AI
Pixyle AI has announced a €1 million seed funding round from South Central Ventures to aid its mission to connect retailers’ online audiences with the products they are really looking to buy.
Svetlana Kordumova, Founder and CEO at Pixyle AI, comments: “In search, understanding customers’ shopping intent is vital. We are laser focused on this using neural networks that train Pixyle’s AI algorithms to see and interpret images exactly how humans would.”
“For example, in e-commerce when site visitors are looking for a specific product to buy and type “short summer dress with flower print in purple and pink” in order for these kinds of dresses to be shown to the customers, in the catalogue they need to be tagged with length “short”, occasion “summer”, with “floral” pattern, and “purple” and “pink” colours.”
“It starts with building the right taxonomy. Having the right metadata associated with product images helps retailers capture everyday popular search queries as well as long-tail searches. We’re trying to make online shopping as frictionless as possible, and hopefully a bit more fun and enjoyable by letting people easily find what they are really looking for.”
2. NotCo
Chilean firm NotCo has secured $70 million in new funding as a Series D1.
This will be used for the company’s new B2B unit, enabling other CPG brands, ingredient suppliers and technology providers to leverage its AI technology Giuseppe for their own plant-based food purposes.
NotCo will continue to operate its branded business, NotCo Food, offering products like NotMilk, NotBurger and NotChicken through retail and food service businesses.
3. Advanced Commerce
Wealth Club has led a £1.5 million investment round, raising £1.3 million under the 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 is the second fundraise by Wealth Club, after raising £1.3 million in late 2021, co-investing alongside institutional investor, Haatch Ventures.
Alex Davies, CEO and Founder at Wealth Club, says : “The UK e-commerce sector is estimated to be worth more than £150 billion, partly thanks to the shift to online shopping during the pandemic.”
“However, many retailers struggle to keep up with users’ expectations, for instance, up to 70% of baskets are abandoned – and that alone can cost e-retailers £millions in lost sales.”
He adds: “Advanced Commerce is helping solve this. Its platform is the digital equivalent of a good shopkeeper, arranging products on shelfs to maximise sales. And the results speak for themselves: increasing average values orders by 12-15% and the volume of orders by 5-10%.”
“An opportunity to invest in a startup where the founder is a sector expert and on top of that has a proven track record with a similar business, is hugely attractive. Our clients recognise a good opportunity when it presents itself and were quick to invest.”
4. Ubamarket
IW Capital has invested £800,000 in scan, pay and go firm, Ubamarket.
This brings total funding from IW Capital investors to circa £4.4 million.
The investment will allow Ubamarket to expand its market position and its app development team as new retailers are onboarded.
The company’s app is currently on course to go live in several retail stores, with partnerships including SPAR, Budgens and Central Co-Op.
Luke Davis, CEO at IW Capital, comments: “Ubamarket is disrupting the traditional shopping experience with its scan, pay, go technology seen across the retail industry today.”
“It has developed a compelling app with its patented technology and is now ready to roll-out at scale”
“ IW Capital is excited to be backing Ubamarket at a fundamental time as they scale up their technology offering and expand globally. Their technology improves businesses and customer experiences alike."
Will Broome, Founder and CEO, Ubamarket, says: “Our success has been built on revolutionising the hospitality and retail sectors, providing them with a solution that can increase sales and reduce costs.”
“We would like to thank IW Capital for its support over the past five years. This latest investment marks a significant milestone in our journey as we scale up and we develop our strategic partnerships and teams.”
5. 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.”
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