Including Niryo, Trinetix, and Centro: seven retail technology funding rounds you need to know about

RTIH rounds up seven retail systems ventures who have recently secured significant investments in their businesses, including a firm that leverages Open Banking technology to process account-to-account (A2A) payments in real-time between consumers and online merchants, and an automated inventory control centre for e-commerce brands.

1. Finematter

Finematter, a circular online marketplace focused on the jewellery industry, has announced the second close of its seed round, bringing the total raised to £2.2 million.

This counted contributions from angel investors such as Heini Zachariassen (Vivino), Christine de Wendel (Zalando/Sunday), Jeppe Rindom (Pleo), Dino Patti (Playdead/Jumpship), Peder Micheal Pruzan-Jørgensen (Pandora's Sustainability board), and participation from existing shareholder Heartcore Capital.

2. Brite Payments

Brite Payments, a FinTech firm that leverages Open Banking technology to process account-to-account (A2A) payments in real-time between consumers and online merchants, has announced a $60 million funding round led by Dawn Capital and joined by Headline and existing investor Incore.

Brite will use the cash to accelerate its geographic expansion, strengthen its presence in existing markets, and invest further in product development.

Lena Hackelöer, Founder and CEO, Brite Payments, pictured below, says: "We see account-to-account payments gaining momentum across Europe, but merchants are still struggling to realise the full potential for their businesses.’

“That's why we've built a complete instant A2A payments and payouts offering that can be plugged into any checkout, while eliminating operational hassles such as settlement accounts, reconciliation or FX. 2022 was our breakthrough year, and with this funding round, we're ready to accelerate our growth and bring Brite to more markets and checkouts across Europe."

Josh Bell, General Partner, Dawn Capital, says: “We are on the cusp of Open Banking 2.0. The prospect of real-time account-to-account payments becoming mainstream across Europe is on the horizon, and Brite stands to be the category leader.”

“We’ve been on the ground in this space from the start, with early investments in Swedish fintech leaders including iZettle and Tink, and we believe Brite is on an equally stellar path.”

“Lena is an extremely impressive CEO with first-rate domain knowledge and the all-round skills to build another market-leading global fintech from Europe. Deploying a driven bootstrap approach, Lena and her talented team have built a company with an impressive product and have rapidly reached profitability – a real feat for an early stage Open Banking startup. We now can’t wait to help power Brite onto the world stage.”

3. Trinetix

Trinetix has secured $10 million in funding from the investment fund Hypra.

With a foothold in Europe and the United States, the firm has attracted such customers as Coca-Cola, P&G, ExxonMobil, Credit Agricole, Dutchie, and McDonald’s.

The funding will enable Trinetix to open an office in Latin America, which will facilitate new strategic partnerships and potential acquisitions.

“With 12 years of market experience, we have built a diverse list of industry leading clients. We’ve achieved this by providing a quality service led by our team of more than 850 industry experts,” says Sasha Strozhemin, pictured below, Co-Founder and CEO at Trinetix.

“We have committed to strengthening our partners’ bottom lines over growing our own balance sheets, with over 80% of our workforce made up of senior level talent.”

4. Centro

Centro, an automated inventory control centre for e-commerce brands, has secured a $2 million in a pre-seed funding led by Ripple Ventures and 2048VC, with participation from Valia Ventures and Comma Capital. Centro’s angels and advisors including individuals from WeMakeWebsites, Canada Goose, and Uber.

The cash will help the startup expand its selection of offerings to include forecasting and procurement automation features to kick off new marketing initiatives throughout North America.

“Prior to founding Centro with Jamyang, I was leading inventory operations at SSENSE, an online luxury multi-brand retailer with a worldwide customer base. When the global pandemic hit, I experienced firsthand how delicate the global supply chain truly was,” says Centro Co-Founder, Andrew Liu.

“While trying to adapt to rapid change across supply and demand, I found there was an inherent lack of inventory tools for modern brands. Jamyang, who was working as a strategist at Shopify at the time, validated this same narrative at other large scale companies so we set out to shake up the inventory ops space.”

5. MarketLeap

Luxembourg-based MarketLeap, formerly Gonuggets, has secured an additional €1.5 million in seed funding, taking its total funding to €2.6 million.

The latest round sees Notion Capital, Kima Ventures, and Motier Ventures, among others, joining existing investors, including Luxembourg’s Expon Capital.

The cash will be used to accelerate the startup’s operating system’s technical development, including the addition of new service offerings, and to facilitate expansion into the US while scaling UK operations.

MarketLeap was founded in 2022 by Mamoun Benkirane and Mekki Mouaddeb, pictured below, former employees of Amazon and Jumia.

6. Niryo

Niryo, a French startup specialising in the design of compact collaborative robotic arms, has wrapped up a €6.4 million round of financing.

The Series A round was led by the BPI Digital Venture investment fund, the Innovacom investment fund, and IRD, Finorpa, NFA and Go Capital.

It is backed by €3.6 million in loans provided by a banking pool.

The cash will be used to continue the firm’s international expansion and address new use cases.

Companies that have adopted Niryo’s cobots include Airbus, Deutsch Bahn, Siemens, Solvay, Coca-Cola and Texas Instrument.

7. Vector

Vector, a UK startup focused on the retail media landscape, has launched this week, with £600,000 in investment from an independent group of investors.

The company says that it is designed to elevate and scale brands at pace, by harnessing the power of Amazon’s ecosystem. It leverages advertising technologies and AI to enhance these services, supported by partnerships with MarTech providers Perpetua, Carpio and Skai.