Forge Retail Pulse: A sneak peek into e-commerce-as-a-service, digital personalization, virtual stores, and alternative protein
Greetings Pulse Subscribers!
We have a lot to cover, so here’s the agenda:
E-commerce-as-a-Service to help any size retailer compete online
How to have that old-fashioned “in-store experience” from home (Hint: It’s not old-fashioned at all.)
Delicious alt-proteins that have our mouths watering
A rare, insider’s take on a major investment
Let’s do this.
Startup Deals
E-commerce-as-a-Service | Retailers know e-commerce comes with many moving parts that can be difficult to integrate, especially as they try to scale. With an end-to-end e-commerce service delivering a fully integrated and owned suite of software, services, and infrastructure. Cart.com enables brands to make impressions online easier than ever. With a wealth of business solutions including online store software, digital marketing services, fulfillment services, financial services, and customer service capabilities retailers of any size are able to work with a single partner to attain the same capabilities as some of the world’s largest companies. Already working with retailers like Dollar General, GNC, and Guess, Cart.com raised $98 million in Series B funding.
Digital Personalization | As digitization continues to drive business online, retailers are challenged to change the way they interact with their customers in the digital space. Luckily, they have Bluecore. This eight-year-old New York-based startup offers a retail-specific, multichannel personalization platform that helps retailers take advantage of AI to provide a personalized shopping experience. Combining customer data, online behavior, and retailers’ product catalogs, Bluecore’s marketing platform drives personalized experiences on various channels using predictive data models to connect customers to unique offers, content, and products. According to Bluecore, this enables retailers to deliver twice the revenue in a quarter of the time as other retail marketing platforms. With customers like Sephora, Express, and Pendleton, Bluecore aims to “connect casual shoppers to the products that transform them into lifetime customers.” Bluecore raised $125 million in Series E funding, bringing their total raised to $225 million at a value of $1 billion. If you missed our startup Showcase on personalization, please find the link here.
Virtual Stores | Nothing has matched the unique in-store retail experience of browsing aisles or showrooms but ByondXR is looking to change that. The Israeli-based virtual shopping startup is bringing the in-person in-store experience online. With their platform, retailers can create true-to-life 3D retail stores and showrooms for customers to browse in an interactive shopping journey without leaving their living rooms. This gives retailers the ability to let customers around the world experience, shop in, and an identical virtual version of their flagship stores. ByondXR’s augmented reality experiences even allow customers to see how products would look in their own homes. With customers including Target, Calvin Klein, L’Oréal, and Coca-Cola, ByondXR announced $7 million in seed funding.
Theme Exploration: Alternative Protein
If it seems like there are more vegan and vegetarian options on the shelves, it’s because there are. With sustainability top-of-mind for consumers looking to help decrease our impact on the environment, more people are looking for alternative sources of protein. Private brands like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods are responding to the demand by creating their own meatless options, and, luckily for hungry consumers, others are following suit with a veritable feast of options. Let’s check some of them out.
Cultured Salmon | When it comes to procuring salmon, there are generally two options - farm-raised and wild-caught. Unfortunately, farmed salmon comes with the negative baggage of factory farming, and wild-caught means taking salmon from their natural ecosystem and risking depletion of their population. Wildtype offers fish lovers a tasty alternative. Using living cells from Pacific salmon, Wildtype grows sushi-grade fish in their San Francisco plant, free of mercury, microplastics, antibiotics, and other contaminants common in wild and farmed options. Taking the “sea” out of seafood, Wildtype is salmon without sacrificing sustainability.
Fungi-Based Protein | What do you get when you send a NASA-backed research team on a special mission to Yellowstone? A new, delicious fungi-based protein, of course! It sounds like science fiction, but it’s real. The team discovered Fy, a complete protein, with nine essential amino acids, vitamins, minerals, and fiber that’s easy to grow and virtually unlimited in supply. Nature’s Fynd is currently using Fy to create meatless breakfast patties, dairy-free cream cheese, and more.
Plant Protein | Any cook worth their salt knows that the right blend of spices can make anything delicious. However, getting the texture right is a little more difficult. Studying the physical and chemical properties and interactions of various meats, Planted uses a variety of plant proteins and fibers to tailor and optimize the texture of its products. With fish, chicken, pork, and beef products that resemble the conventional option not only in texture but also in taste, appearance, and nutritional value, Planted is hoping to take a bite out of animal protein sources.
Essential Industry Reads
It’s not every day you get a peek behind the curtain, but this week, we’ve got one. The team at Sapphire Ventures has written an interesting and informative take on why they’re excited to co-lead yellow.ai’s Series C funding. yellow.ai offers an AI-powered customer experience platform with virtual assistants that can chat naturally with customers and resolve issues in over 100 languages. In this read, Sapphire Ventures explores where they think the future of CX Automation is headed and why they think yellow.ai is poised to take the lead, offering a rare insider's view of a major investment.
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