Retail Technology Market Update

The retail online to offline space continues to be very active as we move into July 2015. We are currently tracking over 945 companies in 24 categories across 44 countries, which represent over $17.6B in funding – with no signs of slowing down! To see the full list of companies, contact us using the form on www.venturescanner.com.

Retail Tech Sector Map

Some of the more recent trends we’re seeing in the space include:

The rise in last-mile logistics startups – In 2015, delivery startups have been HOT with multiple companies raising rounds from top tier investors. Notable examples include Delivery Hero ($568M Series H), Instacart ($220M Series C), Munchery ($85M Series C), Postmates ($80M Series D), and DoorDash ($40M Series B). Most of these companies are tackling food/grocery delivery, a natural first step, however the big opportunity here is really innovating on the last piece of the supply chain. Uber, who recently raised a massive $1B Series E round (at a $50B valuation), has also been testing new services in the space with its uberFRESH program.

Continued growth in ibeacon/beacon – There was a lot of press/hype about the potential of beacons in 2014, but we are seeing some positive indicators for the hyper-local solution going into 2015. Shopkick, the in-store marketing company acquired by SK Telecom last September, is rolling out 4,000 beacons across Macy’s stores after a successful pilot program. Swirl, a beacon marketing platform, is also rolling out its solution across 130 locations for Hudson’s Bay Company and Lord and Taylor in North America. We expect this to continue throughout the year, especially with the interest in further integrating offline and online data systems.

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