Including Whatnot and Raspberry AI: ten retail technology funding rounds you need to know about

RTIH rounds up ten retail systems ventures who have recently secured significant investments in their businesses, including a provider of AI powered composable order operations, a marketplace focused on live shopping in the US, UK, and Europe, and a specialist in warehouse automation.

1. Whatnot

Whatnot, a marketplace focused on live shopping in the US, UK, and Europe, has announced $265 million in Series E funding, co-led by Greycroft, DST Global, and Avra. Joining Greycroft and Avra as new investors are Lightspeed Venture Partners and Durable Capital Partners, who participated in the round alongside returning backers Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), CapitalG, BOND, and Y Combinator.

The investment brings Whatnot’s valuation to $4.97 billion. The company has raised approximately $746 million since its founding in 2019.

“We believe there’s a better way to shop online, and it starts with creating a platform where sellers can grow thriving businesses around the things they care about most. We’ve proven this leads to the happiest experience for consumers and sellers alike,” says Grant LaFontaine, Co-founder and CEO at Whatnot.

“As we look ahead, we’ll offer even more ways for sellers to cultivate their communities and for buyers to shop and socialiwe. This capital will help us pave the way for mainstream adoption of livestream selling, and we’re grateful to welcome many new partners to the Whatnot family who share our vision that the future of shopping is live.”

2. Pipe17

Pipe17, a provider of AI powered composable order operations, has announced a $15.5 million funding round. It also recently hired its first Chief Operating Officer, Kelly Goetsch, who joins from commercetools.

Goetsch also co-founded and ran the MACH Alliance, an industry consortium of 100+ vendors advocating for composable MACH (Microservices, APIs, Cloud, and Headless) technologies.

“Joining Pipe17 feels like history repeating itself. When I joined commercetools, I saw a massive market opportunity to redefine how businesses power ecommerce via headless and composable commerce infrastructure – and we did exactly that,” says Goetsch.

“Now, with Pipe17, I see the same potential - this time in pioneering the future of composable order operations. This platform is fast, scalable, and uniquely designed to unify systems and channels, enabling businesses to stay competitive and deliver exceptional customer experiences.”

Pipe17 powers the operations of brands such as Allbirds, Made In Cookware, Orthofeet and MaryRuth Organics, and logistics providers like Ryder, UPS and FedEx.

The funding round was led by LFX Venture Partners, with participation from current investors GLP and others, including convertible note funding.

3. Raspberry AI

Raspberry AI, a generative AI platform for fashion creatives working with Under Armour, MCM Worldwide, Gruppo Teddy and Li & Fung, has secured $24 million in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).

Existing investors Greycroft, Correlation Ventures and MVP Ventures also participated in the round, along with angel investors including Gokul Rajaram and Ken Pilot.

Raspberry AI will use the cash to accelerate its product development and add engineering, sales and marketing talent to its team.

The company provides an AI image generation platform that helps retail brands in understanding consumer demand and creating highly sought after designs and marketing assets in minutes. The platform enables brands to create full mood boards, lifestyle photography, product photography and technical drawings through text prompts.

“Over the past five years, the combination of fleeting social media trend cycles, the on-demand economy, consumers’ insatiable appetite for newness and the rise of fast fashion has fundamentally changed the way consumers shop,” says Cheryl Liu, CEO and Founder at Raspberry AI.

“As a result, brands and manufacturers are being challenged to change the way they design and develop products. We’re excited to partner with these visionary investors to empower fashion creatives ranging from designers to product developers to marketers with next-generation tools that allow them to create and market best selling products more quickly, efficiently and sustainably.”

4. Daash Intelligence

Daash Intelligence, an AI powered predictive commerce intelligence platform for retail brands, has secured $5.5 million in a second seed funding round, bringing its total funding to date to $8.25 million.

New investor Bullpen Capital led the round, with participation from GFT Ventures as well as from returning backers Silicon Road Ventures and Red Bike Capital.

Daash will use the cash to scale its engineering and go to market teams and accelerate product development to meet demand for timely, actionable data insights that enable beauty brands of all sizes to spot and leverage white space market opportunities.

“Beauty is a fiercely competitive retail category and beauty and personal care brands need affordable data insights that help them understand market trends as they are occurring, not weeks or months later,” says Philip Smolin, Co-founder and CEO at Daash Intelligence.

“We’re extremely pleased to partner with this prestigious group of investors to provide beauty brands with a powerful early indication of where their market opportunities lie, so they can act quickly to take advantage of emerging trends and maximise their sales.”

5. Deus Robotics

Deus Robotics, a Ukraine-based specialist in warehouse automation, has closed a $3 million seed funding round led by U.Ventures, with participation from 1991 Ventures, SID Venture Partners, Sigma Software Labs, and SD Capital.

Pavlo Pikulin, Founder and CEO at Deus Robotics, says: "We’ll invest this money to further refine our end-to-end robotic automation solution and expand in the UK."

"Our goal is to connect British capital with Ukraine’s exceptional tech talent,” says Denis Gursky, Partner at 1991 Ventures. “Deus Robotics exemplifies the innovation and resilience that make Ukraine a leader in tech. This investment is about more than technology - it’s about shaping the future of global supply chains.”

6. Reshop

Reshop, a startup that focuses on the refund process for both consumers and retailers, has announced Anthony Eisen as its CEO, as well as a $17 million fundraise. 

Eisen most recently served as Co-Founder and Co-CEO at FinTech firm Afterpay, which he launched alongside Nick Molnar in 2014 and listed on the ASX in May 2016.

The $17 million fundraise, meanwhile, features investments from Matrix Partners, Sound Ventures (a venture capital firm co-founded by Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary), Woodson Capital, and Touch Ventures. As Reshop continues to expand its network of partner retailers (which currently includes Alo Yoga, Steve Madden, Dolce Vita, and Cara Cara), the cash will be used to accelerate go-to-market and scale. 

"With Afterpay, our mission has always been to power an economy in which everyone wins, and that holds true with Reshop as well," says Eisen.

"The refunds space is ripe for disruption and in need of a solution that benefits both retailers and consumers, which is what we're providing with Reshop. I'm proud of the progress the team has already made since launching earlier this year and am excited to help shape the next chapter in their journey."

7. t’order

t’order, a table ordering service provider, has appointed Theo Eom, former Yanolja CTO, as its Chief Technology Officer.

Eom's career history includes working at Naver ($29 billion valuation) and NCsoft ($12.5 billion valuation) before joining Big Tech firm Yanolja with a $7 billion valuation, where he served as Platform Director, Platform Unit Head, and ultimately CTO.

t’order has established the CTO role to enhance its focus on product and technology development as it expands beyond the domestic South Korean table ordering market to the global stage.

Eom will assess the company’s current development landscape, oversee the ongoing development of tablet menu solutions, and lead efforts to expand t’order’s capabilities into advertising and data platform services.

It recently closed the first tranche of its Series B funding round, raising $23 million from LB Investment and Korea. This gave it a valuation of around $230 million.

Eom comments: “t’order is a company that prioritises on the ground operations and values close engagement with its customers, which has contributed to its consistent revenue growth. With the Series B funding now secured, I believe this is the right time to invest in research and development to deliver a diverse range of services to our customers, which is why I decided to join the company.”

8. Synthesia

.Synthesia, an enterprise AI powered video communications platform, has closed a $180 million Series D funding round. This was led by NEA, with participation from existing investors including GV, MMC Ventures and FirstMark, and new backers including WiL (World Innovation Lab), Atlassian Ventures, and PSP Growth.

This brings Synthesia’s total capital raised to over $330 million, valuing the company at $2.1 billion.

The cash will support product development and talent growth, and drive the expansion of its AI powered video platform to meet the evolving needs of enterprises in several markets, including Japan, Australia, Europe and North America.

"This new investment will help us develop a new generation of AI powered video experiences that are interactive, real-time, and personalised, offering possibilities we could have only imagined when we founded the company in 2017,”  says Victor Riparbelli, CEO and Co-founder at Synthesia.

“I’m excited to bring these experiences to our over 60,000 customers, which range from the world’s largest brands to thousands of small businesses that use Synthesia to communicate internally and externally with unmatched engagement and efficiency.”

9. Recharge

Recharge, a European specialist in online prepaid payments, has secured a £38 million facility with ABN AMRO. It says that the funding will enable the company to “drive consolidation across markets, open new segments and overall strengthen its position in the prepaid payments industry”.

The £38 million facility is part of a broader strategy to leverage strategic acquisitions as a growth driver.

Combined with Recharge’s cash reserves, and following previous funding rounds, it lays claim to a substantial war chest for identifying and integrating high potential businesses in key markets. The company aims to close two to three deals in 2025.

Bas Janssen, senior banker Digital and Consumer clients, ABN AMRO, says: “We are proud to support Recharge as they continue to scale and innovate in the prepaid payments sector. ABN AMRO is on a trajectory to become the preferred tech bank in the Netherlands and North West Europe.”

“This collaboration reflects our appetite to support digital transformation - one of our three strategic pillars. We see great promise in Recharge’s growth trajectory as they broaden their reach within the global prepaid payments space.”

10. Leap

Leap, a platform enabling physical retail for brands, has snagged $20 million in funding from Tribeca Venture Partners and DNX Ventures, along with existing investors.

The company was founded in 2018 with $3 million in seed money from Costanoa Ventures, Equal Ventures and Brand Foundry Ventures. It secured another $50 million in Series B financing in 2021 and $15 million in Series C funding two years later.

"Retail pundits say that modern brands need to create "omnichannel experiences." However, while it's become easier to create an online presence with tools like Shopify, the hurdles to creating a physical retail location have remained prohibitively high," says Richard Koo, Principal at DNX Venture Partners. "It's still hard to find and negotiate a physical store location, design the space, install the infrastructure, and then hire and manage staff."

"Amish Tolia and his team have built a platform that makes physical retail much more accessible. By handling everything from leases to the technology to the actual store operations, Leap allows brands to focus on creating great products. We're excited to support Leap as they continue to reshape retail.