AI powered predictive commerce intelligence startup Daash Intelligence bags $8.25 million in seed funding

Daash Intelligence, an AI powered predictive commerce intelligence platform for retail brands, has secured $5.5 million in a second seed funding round, bringing its total funding to date to $8.25 million.

New investor Bullpen Capital led the round, with participation from GFT Ventures as well as from returning backers Silicon Road Ventures and Red Bike Capital.

Daash will use the cash to scale its engineering and go to market teams and accelerate product development to meet demand for timely, actionable data insights that enable beauty brands of all sizes to spot and leverage white space market opportunities.

“Beauty is a fiercely competitive retail category and beauty and personal care brands need affordable data insights that help them understand market trends as they are occurring, not weeks or months later,” says Philip Smolin, Co-founder and CEO at Daash Intelligence.

“We’re extremely pleased to partner with this prestigious group of investors to provide beauty brands with a powerful early indication of where their market opportunities lie, so they can act quickly to take advantage of emerging trends and maximise their sales.”

The Daash platform provides weekly retailer specific updates for colour cosmetics, skincare, fragrance, haircare, personal care and other brands seeking to understand how they are performing compared to their competitors.

The platform’s proprietary AI combines multiple data sources to generate sales and velocity estimates each week. By highlighting how key metrics shift over time, Daash solves one of beauty brands’ perpetual challenges - gaining visibility into what brands, products and SKUs are gaining and losing share and why - enabling them to make better data driven decisions and optimise performance.

“Daash has seen phenomenal growth momentum since its launch and has more than doubled its client roster since announcing its initial funding round just over a year ago,” says Paul Martino, General Partner, Bullpen Capital.

“The experienced team of co-founders identified a void in the commerce intelligence space and moved quickly to fill it, using AI to unlock the predictive insights midsized and smaller brands need to compete with even the biggest beauty behemoths.”

“We love the holistic view of the skincare landscape and having access to the market data down to SKU-level stats across all categories,” says Sarah Lee, Co-CEO and Co-founder at Glow Recipe. “Having a good grasp of the context of our growth and the market’s growth, along with insights into product and ingredient trends, is super helpful as we roadmap our product pipeline and continue on our strong growth trajectory.”

RTIH AI in Retail Awards

RTIH, organiser of the industry leading RTIH Innovation Awards, proudly brings you the first edition of the RTIH AI in Retail Awards, which is now open for entries. 

As we witness a digital transformation revolution across all channels, AI tools are reshaping the omnichannel game, from personalising customer experiences to optimising inventory, uncovering insights into consumer behaviour, and enhancing the human element of retailers' businesses.

With 2025 set to be the year when AI and especially gen AI shake off the ‘heavily hyped’ tag and become embedded in retail business processes, our newly launched awards celebrate global technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world and the resulting benefits for retailers, shoppers and employees.

Our 2025 winners will be those companies who not only recognise the potential of AI, but also make it usable in everyday work - resulting in more efficiency and innovation in all areas.

Winners will be announced at an evening event at The Barbican in Central London on Thursday, 3rd July. This will kick off with a drinks reception in the stunning Conservatory, followed by a three course meal, and awards ceremony in the Garden Room.

Please email our Editor, Scott Thompson, if you have any questions or need further information: scott.thompson@retailtechinnovationhub.com

FAQs

Is there a fee to enter the awards?: No, it is free of charge.

Can I enter across multiple categories: Yes.

Do I need to complete all the sections in the entry form? No, but the more information you provide, the better chance you have of producing a successful submission.

Is there a certain timeframe for nominated projects, initiatives etc? Yes, nominated projects, initiatives etc should have been completed (or substantially completed) during the last 12 months.

Who has visibility of our completed entry form and what information will be public should we win or be shortlisted? Only our Editor, Scott Thompson, and judging panel will view submissions. The information provided in the summary section of the entry form will be made public.

Do you only accept entries from UK-based companies? No, we accept entries from all parts of the world.

What is the shortlists process? Shortlists will be announced in April 2025, then shortlisted entries will be sent to our independent judging panel who will decide upon the winners and highly commended submissions. Shortlisted companies will be invited to attend an awards ceremony at The Barbican in Central London on Thursday, 3rd July 2o25.

Do winners and highly commended companies receive post-event coverage? Yes, post-event coverage includes articles on our website and also an in-depth awards review in our printed magazine. There is also the opportunity for a company profile type piece to be published on our site and within our magazine.

When is the deadline for 2025 submissions? Friday, 23rd May 2025.

When will the 2025 winners be revealed? Winners will be announced at an event at The Barbican in Central London on Thursday, 3rd July. This will kick off with a drinks reception, followed by a three course meal, awards ceremony, and after party featuring DJ until midnight.

Who will be judging submissions? Details of our 2025 judging panel will be announced in the near future.