Including Stord, Rep AI and Handshake: six retail technology funding rounds you need to know about

RTIH rounds up six retail tech ventures who have recently secured significant investments in their businesses, including companies specialising in drone delivery systems, AI platforms for online retailers, and live selling solutions.

1. Stord

E-commerce logistics specialist Stord has announced a nearly $250 million Series F funding round at a $3 billion valuation. This included Strike Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, Franklin Templeton, Baillie Gifford, G Squared, Bond, and Lux. 

It says it will use the cash to accelerate its mission to give independent brands the complete commerce stack to own their direct consumer relationships. 

"For years, every independent brand has been left to figure out on their own how to compete against the consumer experience Amazon has spent decades and hundreds of billions building. By every measure, independent brands have been losing,” says Sean Henry, Founder and CEO at Stord.

“Stord exists to level that playing field. We give independent brands the complete commerce stack: the fulfillment network, software, and AI, to deliver a consumer experience that surpasses Prime.  Our vertical integration and scaled network create compounding advantages that deliver better, faster, cheaper outcomes with every order we touch. As AI and physical intelligence advance across our platform, that advantage for our customers is rapidly accelerating.”

2. Matternet

Matternet, a developer of commercial drone delivery systems for urban and suburban environments, has raised approximately $33 million in an oversubscribed private placement offering. 

It has also completed a go public reverse merger transaction with Los Altos Ventures Corp., which has been renamed Matternet and will continue the firm’s historic business. It says that this makes it the first publicly reporting pureplay drone delivery venture.

The financing was led by a group of new investors, including Ed Eisler of EE Holdings and Mark Tompkins of Montrose Capital Partners, and included participation from several existing backers. The company intends to use the cash to launch its next-generation drone delivery platform and expand commercial operations across food, retail, and healthcare.

“As we enter the era of physical AI, we believe 2026 is the inflection point for drone delivery in the United States,” says Andreas Raptopoulos, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Matternet. 

“With recent regulatory advances and growing enterprise adoption, we believe the category is entering a phase of exponential growth. With this financing, we are accelerating the development and deployment of our next-generation drone delivery platform to power instant, autonomous delivery for restaurant, retail, and healthcare leaders."

Raptopoulos adds: “Drone delivery is a magical way to move things from A to B. Instead of sending a two-tonne car across town to deliver a meal or retail item, a small, electric, autonomous aircraft can move it through the air faster, more efficiently, and at lower cost. Matternet has spent more than a decade building the aircraft, ground infrastructure, software, regulatory approvals, and operational experience required to make drone delivery work safely and reliably at scale.”

Matternet has partnered with organisations such as UPS for healthcare logistics and Dave’s Hot Chicken in the restaurant space. In recent weeks, it has also announced a partnership with SoftBank Robotics America to support the deployment of drone delivery networks, and launched drone delivery operations with the NHS in Central London.

3. Rep AI

Rep AI, an AI platform built for e-commerce brands and online retailers, has bagged $6.2 million in funding. The round was led by Silicon Road Ventures, with participation from Osage Venture Partners, Flashpoint Venture Capital, and Zendesk.

This builds on the company's initial $8.2 million Series A round announced in August 2024. The new capital will be used to accelerate product innovation, expand market reach, and support enterprise growth as Rep AI.

"E-commerce brands are increasingly overwhelmed by disconnected technology stacks that create operational silos and missed revenue opportunities," says Yoav Oz, Co-founder and CEO at Rep AI. "This funding further validates our vision of building a unified AI operating system for e-commerce - one that helps brands better understand shopper behaviour, improve conversion, and deliver stronger customer experiences from first interaction through long-term loyalty."

4. Handshake

Handshake has announced a $3.2 million funding round led by Triple Point Ventures, with participation from Future Back Ventures by Bain & Company, Octopus Ventures, and other retail technology investors.

Handshake's AI powered platform gives retailers, wholesalers, and suppliers a single system to make, track, and execute commercial agreements, with the aim of replacing fragmented processes with a faster, more accountable, and data driven way to manage deals.

Victor Angline, Director of Merchandising Strategy and Supplier Relations at Gopuff, says: "Our merchandising teams oversee hundreds of supplier partnerships across multiple categories, so it's important we have the right tools to manage all the details. We chose Handshake to empower our merchants with a platform that enables seamless management of contracts, agreements, and joint business plans. They have been amazing partners, and we look forward to continued collaboration."

"Technology has transformed almost every corner of retail over the past decade, but retail buying still runs largely on spreadsheets, disconnected systems, and anecdotal memory," says Alex Lindsay, Co-founder and CEO at Handshake. 

"That creates enormous operational complexity in an industry where margins are tight and every commercial decision matters. We believe there's a huge opportunity to build the AI native operating system for retail buying, one that gives retailers and suppliers the visibility, structure, and accountability they need to work better together."

5. Tilt

Tilt, a live auction app where AI connects people selling products in real-time, has secured $26 million in fresh funding. Joining the round is Vinted Ventures, the investment arm of Vinted, alongside existing backers TQ Ventures, Balderton Capital, Earlybird, Seedcamp, and others. The additional capital brings the total funding raised to date to over $50 million. 

“The next generation won't browse static listings the way their parents did - they'll discover and buy through video, conversation, and live interaction, across every category,” says Abhi Thanendran, CEO and Co-founder at Tilt. “What Vinted did for second-hand, Tilt is doing for live. Their backing is the strongest possible signal that this is where the category is going next - and beyond the capital, we'll be drawing on Vinted's operational expertise and learnings as we scale." 

The platform is now live across the UK, Italy, Spain, and Poland, and lays claim to being the only major live commerce platform operating at scale in Europe. The capital will be used to accelerate Tilt's AI roadmap, expand the seller base across new markets, and continue scaling the team. 

Martijn van Heeswijk, Corporate Development Principal at Vinted, says: “Our mission is to make second-hand the first choice worldwide. Through Vinted Ventures, we back founders building the next generation of re-commerce. Tilt is creating a genuinely differentiated experience in live selling, a format we believe has strong potential in fashion and beyond, and we are excited to support them on that journey.” 

6. Factorial

Factorial, a Spain-based AI workforce operations platform, has closed a $150 million Series D funding round at a valuation of $2.5 billion. The round was led by General Catalyst, which is making its first equity investment in Factorial, joined by other backers including Atomico and Four Rivers. 

Alongside the equity round, General Catalyst is doubling down on its prior investment, stumping up an additional $540 million through its Customer Value Fund, bringing total capital committed to over $700 million.

Jordi Romero, CEO and Co-founder at Factorial, comments: "Ten years ago we built Factorial as a SaaS company. Today we are an AI first company, building agents for our customers, and we are doing it for over 16,000 businesses, from Europe, with the discipline that has defined our first decade. We have reset the product, the architecture, and the way our customers run their work around AI agents. General Catalyst's partnership gives us the conviction and the capital to turn that reset into a category-defining business. This round does not close a chapter. It opens the one that matters."

Pranav Singhvi, Partner at General Catalyst, says: "The next decade of enterprise software will belong to the companies that rebuild themselves around AI, not the ones that bolt it on. Factorial is doing exactly that, and doing it with a level of product horizontality and an ambitious growth at scale that is rare anywhere in the world. That combination is why we are deepening our partnership across both equity and our Customer Value Fund."