Including Saledock and TrusTrace: six retail technology funding rounds you need to know about
RTIH rounds up six retail systems ventures who have recently secured significant investments in their businesses, including Cart.com, Krepling, Leal, and PRIMIS.
1. Saledock
Solid Bond reports an undisclosed investment into Saledock’s £150,000 pre-seed round.
This will enable the Yorkshire-based startup to grow its team and continue to serve SME clients with a retail solution built with them in mind.
The company has developed a unified e-commerce platform, inventory management, and in-store EPoS system.
Built from the ground up, Saledock started with a chance conversation at a local menswear store.
Shopping for suits ahead of their wedding, software developers Layla and Lee Gladwin found themselves chatting with the owner about the difficulties the store was experiencing with their patched together retail systems.
A look at the retail software market soon told them that the menswear store certainly wasn’t alone in their struggle.
Multiple clunky integrated systems across EPoS, e-commerce and inventory management coupled with poor customer support from existing providers were all contributing to an inadequate customer experience for many retailers.
Spotting a gap in the market and after consulting with other retailers, they decided to build an alternative.
Word of mouth, a little telemarketing, some PPC and exhibiting at local business events saw Saledock build a 30-strong client base. It then decided to raise a pre-seed round and was introduced to Solid Bond by another later stage VC fund.
2. TrusTrace
TrusTrace, which has developed a platform for product traceability and compliance, has announced the completion of a $24 million growth investment led by Circularity Capital, a specialist investor in businesses that enable the circular economy, with participation from existing backers Industrifonden and Fairpoint Capital.
Shameek Ghosh, CEO and Co-Founder at TrusTrace, says that the new investment will enable the company to further accelerate its global expansion ambitions by strengthening its presence in key markets, deepening product innovation and expanding collaborations.
Ghosh comments: “A growing number of fashion and textile brands are adopting traceability to support their sustainability goals and ensure competitiveness in the face of mounting regulations and consumer pressure.”
“The completion of this new growth investment is proof that traceability lies at the core of sustainable transformation.”
“Backed by the new funding, TrusTrace will continue to be the fashion industry’s trusted partner for discovering and managing supply chain risk, ensuring compliance and driving true sustainability across all value chains.”
3. Cart.com
Cart.com, a provider of unified commerce and logistics solutions for merchants, has secured a $70 million debt facility from Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank.
This is part of a larger $100 million debt refinancing provided by SVB’s Technology Corporate Banking Division and Trinity Capital.
It follows a Series C in June 2023 with a $60 million equity round at a valuation of $1.2 billion.
“Our business grew 50% amid a challenging year for retailers and commerce enablement providers alike – a testament to the innovative logistics and commerce infrastructure solutions that are helping our mid-market and enterprise customers unlock more efficient growth,” says Cart.com Founder and CEO Omair Tariq.
“We’re excited to once again partner with SVB as we continue to scale and look toward our next chapter of growth in 2024 and beyond.”
4. Krepling
Krepling, an e-commerce channel management platform, has raised a $3.3 million seed round and launched a centralised universal builder, with the aim of offering merchants a consolidation of tools and services to foster personalised customer experiences.
The round includes LAUNCH, Brickyard, Front Porch Ventures, 11 Tribes Ventures, Colabora Ventures, and Broadshade Investments.
The funding will be used to further expand the Krepling team in several departments and enhance the capabilities of simplifying e-commerce integrations, without the need for outside agencies or developers.
The startup has raised $4.3 million to date with its first round announced in November 2022.
The 23-year-old CEO and co-founder, Liam Gerada, built Krepling with his younger brother, Travis (20 years old) based on being merchants themselves - owning a DTC sneakers business.
5. Leal
Leal has raised $5 million in a pre-Series B round.
LEAP Global Partners and Rakuten Capital co-led the round and were joined by Morro Ventures and Salkantay Ventures.
Leal previously pulled in $10 million in Series A capital, with that one co-led by Rakuten and IDC Ventures. In total, the company has secured $20.5 million in venture backed capital.
The startup works with business-to-consumer brands, e-commerce sites and financial institutions across Latin America to enable merchants to create a customer database to then offer cashback and rewards products to loyal shoppers on everyday purchases.
To do this, Leal has built integrations with 160 different PoS systems.
6. PRIMIS
Fuel Ventures has led a £2 million funding round for customer experience platform PRIMIS.
The idea of PRIMIS was first considered in 2020 when CEO and founder, Rebecca Griffiths, stepped into the post-purchase customer experience world and saw gaps in the solutions being offered.
In the past 18 months, the startup has launched three products, the main being PRIMIS Track.
It has also signed a partnership agreement with a large UK carrier to support its post-purchase comms journey. The team has grown from a single founder to eight people, including a CPO and COO.
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