Ambitious visions: RTIH presents ten retail technology funding rounds you absolutely need to know about
RTIH rounds up the retail systems ventures who have recently wrapped notable funding rounds, including Appbrew, Vue Storefront, EDITED, Fashinza, and Videowise.
1. Appbrew
Appbrew has announced a $2 million seed funding led by Accel with participation from Riversde Ventures and angel investors.
Launched in 2022, Appbrew is a no-code platform that enables brands to quickly create native mobile apps for iOS and Android devices.
Founders Abhijeet Singh (CEO), Mayank Agarwal (CTO) and Sharat Chandra (CPO) have a background in building e-commerce tech stacks for Fortune 500 companies and startups at Walmart, United Health Group, Samsung, and Zopsmart, Zupee, Udaan and Otipy.com.
2. Vue Storefront
Poland-based Vue Storefront has raised $20 million of equity with Felix Capital, backer of the likes of Mirakl, Travelperk, Moonbug and Farfetch, leading the round and additional funds coming from Philippe Corrot, Founder and CEO at Mirakl, and Nagi Letaifa, Head of Engineering at Mirakl.
In the last 12 months, the company has added customers like Berlin Brand Group, Zenith Watches and Zadig & Voltaire with more than 50% of its pipeline coming from the US enterprise market.
Julien Codorniou, who joined Felix Capital last year from Facebook, will be added to Vue Storefront’s board of directors.
Existing investors Creandum, Earlybird and SquareOne, also participated in the round.
3. Videowise
Videowise, an e-commerce video platform founded in 2021, has announced a seed round funding of $3 million led by Slack Fund, with participation from FounderCollective, Underline Ventures, MuVentures and Ratio Ventures.
“We are committed to supporting companies driving innovation and big ideas. We are thrilled to work with Videowise as the company brings an innovative, commerce centric video platform to revolutionise how brands and retailers interact with customers,” says Slack Fund Senior Associate Dillon Ferdinandi.
”Our product reviews and clients' feedback are the best votes of confidence we could receive,” says Claudiu Cioba, Founder and CEO at Videowise.
“We are now embarking on a new journey into e-commerce experiences with a new round of investment led by Slack Fund, which will support our expansion to Salesforce Commerce Cloud and other commerce platforms.”
“Together with our investors, we share an ambitious vision for what commerce centric video solutions will become, creating highly engaging video shopping experiences, distributed at scale, with zero impact on site speed.”
4. Rwazi
Rwazi, a Los Angeles-based startup with subscribers seeking to better understand consumers in emerging markets, has raised a $4 million seed stage round led by Bonfire Ventures and also including backing from Newfund Capital and Alumni Ventures.
The SaaS firm plans to use the investment to build on its growth last year, focusing on its penetration in Africa, South Asia, and LATAM.
“More than 90% of retail transactions in Sub-Saharan Africa’s $2 trillion economy are cash-based, which has historically made it hard for big brands to understand more than a billion African consumers, until Rwazi,” says Cofounder and CEO Joseph Rutakangwa. “We’ve turned that problem into an opportunity.”
“We’ve already built a network of 50,000 local consumers across Africa who provide our paying subscribers, including Fortune 500 global brands, with unparalleled insight into who’s buying what, for how much, from where, when and why,” he adds.
“Now, we’re announcing today that with our new funds, we’ll be further scaling our reach across Africa, South Asia, and parts of Latin America. And we’re looking for talent to help us.”
5. Fez Delivery
Fez Delivery, a last mile logistics startup with hubs across Nigeria, has raised $1 million led by Ventures Platform with participation from Voltron Capital, Acasia Ventures and other angel investors.
It plans to use the seed investment to boost its presence Nigeria while it considers expansion into other African markets, including Ghana, Kenya and South Africa.
The firm is also looking to improve its technology and operation efficiency, hire more talent and increase its marketing spend.
6. EDITED
AI driven merchandising experience platform provider, EDITED, has secured an investment of $15 million in a funding round led by Delta-v Capital.
There was also participation from the firm’s original backer Wavecrest Growth Partners, alongside investor groups Beringea and Hermes GPE.
“In speaking with EDITED’s customers, we heard again and again that they couldn’t imagine doing their jobs without the company,” says Colin Barclay, Partner at Delta-v.
“That type of advocacy is a clear indication of a company that has found a product-market fit. We are excited to partner with Doug Kofoid and the leadership team as they capitalise on their market leadership position by further investing in growth.”
EDITED says it will use the investment toward accelerating product development, investing in partnerships, and M&A that will expand its value proposition to customers.
7. Fashinza
2022 RTIH Innovation Awards winner Fashinza has landed $30 million in funding from Mars Growth Capital and Liquidity Group.
This will be used to accelerate its growth strategy and further its moves into the USA, Gulf, and Europe.
“Fashinza is transforming the global fashion supply chain. Their performance since inception, the strength of their founding team, and their existing global network of manufacturers and customers gave us enough confidence in their ability to scale this business and sustain in the medium- to long-term,” says Navas Ebin, Managing Director of APAC for Mars Growth Capital and Liquidity Group.
8. SKUx
SKUx, a payments technology and consumer engagement platform, has bagged $11 million in a Series A round, bringing total funding to date to $22 million.
This new capital positions the company to scale its current product offerings as SKUx continues its implementations with organisations spanning retail, consumer packaged goods, payments, and healthcare.
The Series A round was led by an unnamed strategic family office investor focused on FinTech and payments and included significant participation from Advection Growth Capital and other investors spanning CPG, retail, and healthcare.
9. RADAR
American Eagle Outfitters is set to launch RADAR’s AI powered inventory tracking technology in approximately 500 American Eagle stores across the US over the next year.
RADAR also announced that it has pulled in more than $50 million in funding to date from investors that include Y Combinator, Align Ventures, Sound Ventures and Founders Fund, and the family offices behind brands such as Michael Kors.
10. Luna Daily
UK startup Luna Daily has closed a £3 million investment round and has entered into North America as the first exclusive UK intimate care brand to launch at Sephora.
Led by Redrice, Joyance Partners, Velocity Juice and Angel investors, the seed round will be used to support the global expansion of Luna Daily a year after it was founded by Katy Cottam (former Global Head of Brand Marketing at Charlotte Tilbury).
The brand's products will be listed by Sephora, both online and across 260+ stores in North America.
In the UK, Luna Daily has launched onto Harrods.com and into Harrods Beauty.
Its Spray-To-Wipe product will be featured on Sephora’s ‘Next Big Thing’ wall and is pitched as the world’s first natural eco-alternative to single use wipes - one bottle is equivalent to 300 wipes; in 2022, the brand estimates it saved two million wipes from going into landfill.
Its research shows that 43% of women feel their washing routines are causing them to have a gynae issue.
Therefore, the funding will also be used to establish an online platform, including educational resources and 24/7 live chat function with medical experts to improve education around intimate care.
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