Milestone for Ocado Retail as Profound bags $1.8bn valuation: last week's most read retail technology articles
Check out our most clicked retail technology articles from last week, including Tesco, Uber Eats, The Entertainer, THG Commerce, M&S, Azoma, Waitrose, Trust Retail, Complir, and RTIH's latest Top 100 Retail Technology Influencers List.
Azoma lands investment from dunnhumby ventures to accelerate roadmap for agentic commerce platform
Azoma’s Agentic Commerce Optimisation platform, which measures and improves how AI shopping agents discover, interpret and recommend products for retailers and CPG brands, has announced an undisclosed investment from dunnhumby ventures.
As part of this, dunnhumby will be able to extend how it supports its retailer clients in optimising their customer facing chat agents while providing brands with ability to boost their discoverability and relevance in the new agentic commerce ecosystem The new funds will accelerate Azoma's product roadmap for customers including L'Oréal, Unilever and Mars, with a view to extending its ability to connect AI visibility to recommended actions and measuring incremental revenue.
Redefining the omnichannel landscape: RTIH's latest Top 100 Retail Technology Influencers List goes live
The latest edition of the RTIH Top 100 Retail Technology Influencers List is here! The list has seen a surge in popularity over the past few years, to the point that we’ve decided publishing it once a year is no longer enough. Here, then, is the second edition for 2026, with some names dropping out of the top 100 and some new names coming in (the latter are flagged as new entries for ease of reference).
Including the likes of retailers, brands, technologists, analysts, and consultants, the list celebrates individuals who are helping to redefine retail in a fast moving omnichannel age.
We use a variety of sources to select our top 100, including feedback from industry observers, research within our own networks, direct or third–party nominations via our website, and social media tools. In addition to social presence, we also take into account award winners and judges, event speakers, books published, media appearances, and people building innovative companies, solutions etc in the retail space.
We hope you enjoy reading through the top 100 and, as always, if you would like to give feedback or believe that there are some glaring omissions, please feel free to get in touch.
Many thanks to 3D Cloud, which provides 3D product visualisation software trusted by top furniture and DIY retailers, for sponsoring the list.
AI platform for marketing Profound follows The Estée Lauder Companies deal with $180 million Series D raise
Profound has raised a $180 million Series D at a $1.8 billion valuation, co-led by Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins, as it builds an AI platform for marketing.
“Two years ago we bet that people would stop clicking blue links and ask AI for the answer. It happened. The agent is now the customer. It scans hundreds of thousands of sources to form an opinion of your brand, and it wants all content current and specific,” says says James Cadwallader, CEO and Co-founder, Profound.
He adds: “Winning in AI search means being everywhere, all at once. It's an inhuman amount of work, and the only way to do it is with agents. That's why we built your AI Marketer, powered by Context Manager. Your AI Marketer is a marketing expert that proactively investigates your data, identifies opportunities, and then does the work while you stay in the loop. Context Manager is the system of record for your marketing context. It turns your meetings, threads, and brand data into one shared, permissioned understanding of your brand, plus a personal layer for how you work. This context is the antidote to slop, so as your brand evolves, so does your AI Marketer.”
“Today, more than 2,500 brands, including a third of the Fortune 100, do their marketing in Profound. Profound lives at the application layer, meaning your AI Marketer can harness the raw intelligence of Fable this week and Astra next week. And CMO's can audit, govern, and meter its work. I speak to CMOs every day and the expectation of what AI should do for marketing has changed completely. Yet frontier intelligence keeps going to code, finance and law. Engineers have Cognition. Lawyers have Harvey. Marketers… have been left in the lurch. Profound is expanding our applied AI research team to post-train models for marketing and build the first benchmark for real-world marketing tasks. More coming on that soon.”
The Entertainer partners with THG Commerce with focus on boosting its digital customer experience
UK toy retailer, The Entertainer, has appointed THG Commerce, part of THG Ingenuity, as its new digital commerce partner. The multi-year tie up will see THG Commerce design, build and power The Entertainer’s next-generation digital experience, with the aim of creating a more intuitive, inspiring and personalised journey for families, gift buyers and adult toy and collectible enthusiasts.
THG Commerce will deploy AI enabled shopping assistance, conversational discovery and intent led search capabilities to help customers explore thousands of products and find the right choice more intuitively. These capabilities draw on the wider THG Ingenuity collaboration with Google Cloud, which harnesses Vertex AI Commerce Search and Gemini.
Alongside smarter search and discovery, the new experience will bring together richer content, curated product journeys and personalised recommendations to inspire customers throughout the purchasing journey. THG Commerce will deliver a new web and mobile experience, together with an enhanced Click & Collect journey designed to create a more seamless connection between digital discovery and The Entertainer’s nationwide store network.
The new platform is expected to launch in spring 2027 and has been designed to provide a foundation for future opportunities across loyalty, retail media and social commerce as The Entertainer continues to develop its omnichannel customer proposition.
Danish startup Complir lands $11 million in seed funding for AI tech being used by Flying Tiger Copenhagen
Copenhagen-based startup Complir, an AI infrastructure platform helping retailers and consumer brands manage product compliance across international markets, has announced a $11 million seed round.
The investment - led by General Catalyst alongside angel investors and specialist industry funds - will support its commercial expansion and go-to-market efforts, alongside investment in engineering and product development, and its teams. It follows the company’s $2 million pre-seed round in December 2025.
The platform is being used by the likes of Flying Tiger, Konges Sløjd, Matas Group and COOP Trading.
Mathilde Blander Bjerregaard at Flying Tiger, says: “There is a built in ‘need for speed’, especially in a seasonal business like ours. We can only deliver on time if we have 100% control over compliance for every single market.”
Thomas Ernfeldt, Chief Operating Officer at Konges Sløjd, says: “Complir has transformed the way we manage product compliance. It replaces a significant amount of manual work with a more streamlined and transparent process, freeing our teams to focus their time on quality assurance and product development while ensuring our products meet the necessary requirements.”
The clock is ticking: there are now just two weeks left to get your entries in for the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards
The eighth edition of the RTIH Innovation Awards is now up and running with the deadline for entries being Friday, 2nd October. That’s just two weeks away, so don’t delay, start working on your submissions today!
The awards, sponsored by 3D Cloud, Business France, and Retail Technology Show 2027, celebrate global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world. Our latest winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC (Prince Consort Rooms) in Central London on Wednesday, 4th November.
Click here for FAQs, categories, and information on our judging panel.
Sign up for an account and submit your entry or entries here.
Ocado Retail reports online grocery delivery milestone as company hits 600,000 orders in one week
Ocado Retail, part of grocery technology and retail specialist Ocado Group and the operator of Ocado.com, a joint venture with Marks and Spencer, has racked up 600,000 orders in a single week.
In a LinkedIn post, the venture said: "What a week! Reaching a milestone of this scale takes incredible dedication, teamwork, and effort from every single person across our business. To mark the achievement, we brought the celebration into the office with plenty of team spirit, decorations, sweet treats, and a competition giving colleagues the chance to win even more Ocado goodies!"
Reaching over 80% of the UK population, Ocado lays claim to more than one million active customers and a range of around 50,000 products (including big name brands, over 7,000 items from the M&S food and drink range and Ocado’s Own-Range).
To put the 600,000 milestone in context, UK market leader Tesco currently handles over 1.2 million online grocery orders each week.
M&S opens doors to new Food store at Bell Green Retail Park in South East London
Marks and Spencer (M&S) has opened a new Food store at Bell Green Retail Park, near Lower Sydenham train station in South East London. This follows the launch of a new Food store in the same part of London, opposite Tooting Broadway station in May, and will be followed by another one at Elephant & Castle later this year.
The Bell Green location will open from 8am-9pm Monday to Saturday, and 10.30am-4.30pm on Sundays.
Alex Freudmann, Managing Director of M&S Food, says: “In this new phase of our transformation, we are reinvesting for growth and in London that means opening new Food stores with the right range for families, commuters and local residents. Whether that's our 140+ products in our Remarksable Value range, each benchmarked to market prices at M&S quality, or our innovations in Food on the Move, we are bringing the best of M&S to every London customer."
The Elephant & Castle location will be part of the Elephant Development, a £1.5 billion regeneration scheme. M&S says it expects these openings, alongside the move of its Tottenham Court Road store in Central London to a bigger location, to create 150 new jobs in the capital.
The retailer is opening four new Food stores across London and refurbishing six existing sites as part of its wider London expansion plans.
Tesco and Uber Eats launch Doorbell Drops delivery servcie with discounts on offer for Clubcard members
Running through to 20th September, Tesco and Uber Eats are launching Doorbell Drops, an exclusive selection of hosting essentials available at half-price to Clubcard members.
Customers can visit the Doorbell Drops hub page for Tesco on the Uber Eats app to shop the likes of Tesco Finest All Butter Sultana Scones, alongside strawberry jam and clotted cream, Mcvities Chocolate Digestives, Président French Brie with Jacobs crackers and Tesco Green Olives with Slow Roasted Tomatoes.
Merve Basci, Uber Eats UK General Manager, says: "Unannounced visits used to be a staple of British social and community life, but the fear of being unprepared and judged for stale biscuits is driving many to hide rather than host. Whether it’s dodging in-laws or frantically scouring the fridge for something edible to serve, our new partnership with Tesco can help people ditch the ‘doorbell dread’, so that young people especially can relax and enter their hosting era with more confidence."
Suzanne Quinn, Tesco Customer Director, says: “We’re always looking for little helps that make life easier for customers, and expanding our rapid delivery service through our Uber Eats partnership is another way we’re helping the nation get what they need, when they need it. The Doorbell Deals range has been created for those moments when plans change or guests arrive at short notice, giving customers quick access to fresh food, drink, and hosting essentials, so they can conveniently pull together a delicious spread in minutes.”
The launch follows Tesco’s recent partnership with Uber Eats, with the aim of extending rapid grocery delivery, Clubcard Prices and Clubcard points to more customers across the UK.
Waitrose keeps the faith with Trust Retail through to 2031 as inventory tech roll-out expands
Waitrose has extended its partnership with Trust Retail, a Trust Payments business, for a further five years, taking the relationship through to November 2031 as the supermarket prepares to accelerate the roll-out of Trust Retail’s inventory management technology across its store estate.
The technology was first trialled in a Waitrose store in March 2026 and is now live across eight stores. A wider roll-out is scheduled to begin at the end of September, with approximately 125 stores expected to be live before Christmas and the remaining Waitrose estate scheduled to follow by March 2027.
Trust Retail’s inventory management technology gives Waitrose partners a real-time view of stock, replacing processes that previously relied on batch updates. Transactions are reflected immediately across connected inventory and accounting systems, providing a more accurate and up-to-date view of stock throughout the trading day.
Using handheld devices, store partners can access current inventory information to support day-to-day activities including replenishment, stock management and markdown decisions.
