Including Coldcart, Shaped, and CultureAI: RTIH rounds up five retail technology funding rounds you need to know about

RTIH rounds up five retail systems ventures who have recently secured significant investments in their businesses, including a platform for frozen and refrigerated parcel logistics, an AI recommendation and search offering for marketplaces, e-commerce, and content companies, and a smart supermarkets specialist.

1. Coldcart

Coldcart, a platform for frozen and refrigerated parcel logistics, has closed an oversubscribed $6.5 million seed financing.

The round was led by Collide Capital and includes previous convertible note investments led by Material. Great North Ventures, Behind Genius Ventures, Feld Ventures, Alumni Ventures, and Service Provider Capital also participated.

With this new funding, Coldcart plans to grow its installed base of perishable shippers and logistics providers.

It was founded by CEO Jason Park, who previously started and scaled Allstate Identity Protection from zero to $100 million ARR, and Blue Apron founder and former CEO Matt Salzberg.

Early backers include founders, C-level, and senior executives from Marley Spoon, Home Chef, Y Combinator, and Bain & Company.

“Perishable shipping is a uniquely complicated problem, requiring a uniquely experienced team,” says Collide Capital Managing Partner Aaron Samuels, who is joining Coldcart’s board.

The startup’s team also includes early ShipBob employees and a former pharma executive.

2. Cart.com

Cart.com, a provider of unified commerce and logistics solutions, has secured a $105 million term loan facility provided by funds and accounts managed by BlackRock. The company says that the latest facility, among other things, consolidates its venture debt at competitive terms.

“Cart.com is one of the fastest growing providers of commerce and logistics solutions today and I’m excited to partner with BlackRock as we continue to aggressively invest to help our customers operate more efficiently,” says Founder and CEO Omair Tariq.

“This latest facility allows us to further expand into new markets while enhancing our innovative technology solutions, particularly our Constellation OMS offering. It also underscores our teams’ relentless work in driving operational excellence and profitability as we continue to partner with larger and larger customers across industries.”

Cart.com offers a suite of tech enabled logistics capabilities, enterprise grade channel and order management software and expert services.

It supports over 6,000 customers and 75 million orders per year and operates 14 omnichannel fulfilment centres across the US.

The aforementioned capital follows the closing of a $25 million Series C extension round which brings the company’s Series C total to $85 million at a $1.2 billion valuation.

3. SuperHii Ai Cart

China’s SuperHii Ai Cart reports that it has secured tens of millions in investment to bolster its overseas market expansion plans.

The company did not disclose the exact amount of funding received but said it was substantial and underscored recognition of its innovation, commercial value, and growth potential.

It said in a LinkedIn post: “This investment will further propel SuperHii's growth, consolidating our industry leadership and enabling us to continue advancing in technology, products, market applications, team building, and capital.”

“We are dedicated to renewing life through digitalisation and illuminating the future with technology. We will keep driving the transformation of smart supermarkets, providing faster, more convenient, and smarter shopping services worldwide.”

4. CultureAI

Human risk management platform, CultureAI, has closed a $10 million Series A funding round.

This was jointly led by Mercia Ventures and Smedvig Ventures, with existing investors Passion Capital and Senovo also continuing their support.

Following seed rounds of $4 million in 2021 and $5 million in 2023, CultureAI says it has seen rapid adoption of its human risk management offering, with significant growth in revenue and clients, including Revolut, RAC, Wickes, Delivery Hero, ClearBank, and Marie Curie.

This latest investment will support its mission to evolve the way organisations detect and manage cyber risks in a developing landscape, which is fuelled by the widespread adoption of SaaS apps, collaboration tools, and generative AI.

It plans to significantly invest in the evolution of its product and expand its team across all departments, aiming to double headcount over the next 12 months. Additionally, it is looking to increase its market profile and presence in the US.

5. Shaped

Shaped, an AI recommendation and search platform for marketplaces, e-commerce, and content companies, has announced funding of $8 million and the launch of its new self-serve cloud product.

The company was founded by AI veterans from Meta and Uber.

The Series A funding was led by Madrona Ventures with participation from Y-Combinator and executives and founders from Clickhouse, Docusign, Okta, Rippling, and StitchFix. As part of this, Madrona’s Managing Director Karan Mehandru has joined the company’s board of directors. 

“Consumers expect personalised digital experiences with every brand, but under the hood, this can be difficult to build and orchestrate. AI is elevating both the expectation and costs to build these experiences,” says Tullie Murrell, Co-founder and CEO at Shaped. 

“Shaped empowers companies to leverage their data into powerful user experiences that drive business outcomes. We're not just building another personalisation engine; we're building the foundation for a future where every user interaction is informed, intelligent, and impactful.”

“The democratisation of content creation with AI has led to a fundamental change in how users engage with online content, and in turn created the need for every business to put personalisation and user experience at the core of their business to engage, acquire and retain their users,” says Mehandru.

“We are excited to partner with Tullie and the Shaped team as they leverage their deep and nuanced understanding of this transition in the market to create the most compelling and delightful personalisation, experience and search platform, that is easy to implement and use by enterprises in every vertical to create a magical user experience for their end users.”

Trela, a grocery delivery app in Brazil, leverages Shaped to optimise product discovery within its marketplace.

By implementing the tech, it says it achieved a 16% increase in average order value and saw a significant increase in the diversity of recommended products.

"Shaped enables us to drive repeat purchases and boost average order values by making our platform more relevant to each individual shopper," says Gui Nazareth, CEO at Trela.