Including Alta, Tastewise, Payrails, and WorkWhile: 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 an AI powered stylist and personal shopping tool, a digital transformation specialist, and a platform that matches businesses with hourly workers.

1. Tastewise

Tastewise, a platform for the food and beverage industry, has announced a $50 million Series B to scale its generative AI powered marketing and sales tools for global brands.

The investment was led by TELUS Global Ventures, with participation from Duo Partners, Peakbridge, Disruptive AI, and PICO, bringing Tastewise’s total funding to date to $72 million.

The firm says that it combines brand data with trillions of real-time food signals to automate marketing and sales execution across the F&B industry. From retail to foodservice, the platform integrates into daily workflows, turning data into sales materials, campaigns, and product placements on shelves and menus.

“F&B companies face a perfect storm - from margin pressure and competitive retail space to shifting consumer behavior and global volatility,” says Alon Chen, CEO and Co-founder at Tastewise. “The ability to change course quickly is everything. Our platform doesn’t just uncover what drives consumers - it helps brands act on that insight. This investment allows us to scale globally while continuing to empower our partners to stay agile, relevant, and ahead of change.”

Get to know your audience on a deeper level with generational filters, specifically for food and beverage data. Read more: https://t.co/7ihMYHaHzj

— Tastewise (@TastewiseAI) June 22, 2021

2. WorkWhile

WorkWhile, an AI powered platform that matches businesses with hourly workers, has raised $23 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Rethink Impact, with participation from previous investors Khosla Ventures and Reach Capital. Citi Impact Fund, GingerBread Capital, and Illumen Capital also joined.

The company has also announced that board member Simon Khalaf, former CEO of FinTech and payment solutions company Marqeta, is coming onboard as Chief Operating Officer. He is joined by several other key hires, including Cyrus Akrami (CRO), Madhu Jagannathan (CFO), and Davis Waddell (Global Strategic Partnerships).

"A full 80.5 million Americans are hourly workers, which makes up 55% of all workers, yet both businesses and workers lack a modern mechanism to connect and adapt. We're devoting all of our resources, energy, and vision to change this," says WorkWhile Co-Founder and CEO Jarah Euston. "Using AI, we're not only transforming how businesses identify and secure talent, but also how workers find opportunities that fit their lives."

3. Voyado

Voyado has landed backing from investment firm Viking, in a deal that puts its valuation at SEK 3.5 billion (approximately £260 million). This makes Viking its new majority shareholder.

Completion of the transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals. 

“We’ve never tried to be everything to everyone - we build solutions for a sector we know inside out. That focus on retail is exactly what made Viking see the potential in us,” says Johan Bäckarlin, Co-Founder at Voyado.

Having gained traction in the Nordics, over the past 18 months Voyado has inked partnerships with several UK retailers across fashion and lifestyle, including Cutler and Gross, Pour Moi, Ellis Brigham, and Silver Cross. It says that it aims to scale further in the UK by providing retailers with AI driven solutions for loyalty, personalisation, and product discovery, all tailored specifically for the retail sector.

4. PMC

Technology services provider, PMC, has secured undisclosed investment from BGF, to help with the expansion of its services, supporting customers' digital transformation initiatives, across both digital and physical platforms.

Founded in 2001, by Paul Mason, PMC provides consulting, professional services, digital engineering and managed services, to over 120 retail, commerce and technology customers, across 24 countries. The 500-strong team from the UK and India has built a customer base that includes WHSmith, National Express, Primark, Crew Clothing and World Duty Free.

“BGF was a natural choice for us, as we take this next step in our growth journey. We look forward to working with their team closely, as we continue our global expansion and further develop our services for our growing commerce customer base," says Richard Lowe, CEO at PMC.

Former Kingfisher executive Paul Worthington will remain on the company’s board, as a Non-Executive Director, together with Mason.

We’re excited to share that BGF has backed PMC as we accelerate our global expansion and digital commerce services.

As our Chair Paul Mason said: “It was important to find a partner that really understood our approach...”

Read more:https://t.co/p74XXry5xh pic.twitter.com/ThSJmOiNBJ

— PMC (@pmccommerce) June 17, 2025

5. Alta

AI powered stylist and personal shopping tool Alta has raised $11 million in seed funding.

The funding round was led by Menlo Ventures, with participation from Benchstrength Ventures, Conviction and Phenomenal Ventures. Arnault family backed investment firm Aglaé Ventures and entrepreneur and model Karlie Kloss also participated. Menlo Ventures partner Amy Wu Martin will join the company’s board.

Alta’s tool curates apparel recommendations based on factors like users’ current wardrobe, lifestyle, budget, occasion and weather, and allows customers to virtually “try on” outfit recommendations using digital avatars. The cash will go towards accelerating its product development, expanding its engineering and operations teams and growing its AI capabilities.

“We were looking to work with a founder who could bridge deep technical expertise with an intuitive grasp of fashion and consumer behaviour,” says Wu Martin. “(Alta founder) Jenny Wang is exactly that. We’re thrilled to back her and join Alta’s journey to reimagine how people shop and dress.”

6. Payrails

Payrails has picked up $32 million in Series A funding to accelerate product innovation, product roadmap expansion and support commercial growth across EMEA.

The round was led by HV Capital’s Growth Fund, with participation from all existing investors EQT Ventures, General Catalyst, and Andreessen Horowitz, bringing total funding raised to over $52.8 million.

Founded by former Delivery Hero employees, the payments specialist works with brands including Puma, Vinted, Flix, InDrive, Just Eat Takeaway, and Careem.

Orkhan Abdullayev, Co-Founder and CEO at Payrails, says: “We’re grateful for the trust our customers and investors have placed in us. Their continued support fuels our vision of empowering enterprises with an all-in-one platform to manage every aspect of payments, unlocking new levels of performance and innovation while driving down complexity and costs.”

“With this funding, we’re doubling down on product development to expand our multi-product platform across the entire payment lifecycle. Our payment operating system is setting a new industry standard for how enterprises manage and optimize payments, with more control, visibility and flexibility than ever before."

Alexander Joel-Carbonell, Partner at HV Capital, says: “Having worked closely with Orkhan and Emre for over eight years - starting from our shared time at Delivery Hero - I’ve consistently been impressed by their sharp strategic instincts and relentless execution. With Payrails, they’ve built a category defining: an enterprise grade, modular payment operating system that abstracts complexity, enhances performance, and enables rapid innovation.”

“Their unwavering 24/7 customer focus and ability to deliver immediate impact is reflected in the calibre of their global enterprise clients and the speed at which they’re scaling, all shown in their great SaaS KPIs and traction. When we benchmarked the landscape, Payrails clearly led the pack of solutions, solving real pain points with a powerful enterprise product.”

Zeynep Yavuz, Partner at General Catalyst, comments: “As global commerce grows and payment flows become more complex, enterprises need a reliable platform built to operate across multiple processors. Our early conviction in Payrails was driven by an exceptional founding team with deep industry experience and a clear vision for simplifying payments while reducing costs.”

“Today, some of the world's fastest growing global enterprises trust them to power their mission critical payments - and are consistently delighted by the product’s performance, flexibility, and reliability. We’re proud to support them as they reshape the future of payments operations.”