Including Circ, Mesh, and Thanks: six retail technology funding rounds you need to know about

RTIH rounds up six retail systems ventures who have recently secured significant investments in their businesses, including textile-to-textile recycling specialists, end-to-end clearance solution and price optimisation platforms, and global crypto payments networks.

1. Platter

Platter, an e-commerce technology startup, has raised $1.6 million in a pre-seed round.

Animal Capital led the investment with participation from Visionary Ventures, e-commerce veterans Ben Jabbawy, Kyle Hency, Aaron Spivak, Pierson Krass and others.

Platter was founded in 2021 by friends Ben Sharf, Kieran Derfus, and Michael Keenehan. With years of experience in the e-commerce industry, including agency, consulting, and marketplace roles, they identified a common issue: building a high converting Shopify website was too expensive, complicated, and time-consuming for brands of all sizes.

While the company made its name building entire storefronts for Shopify brands, its latest launch offers optimisation tools to a wider set of customers. Platter+, available in the Shopify app store, allows brands to add product upsells, cross-sells, and social proof at their checkout and post-purchase pages in minutes.

“Ben Sharf and the Platter team have thoughtfully created a holistic product offering for e-commerce businesses that makes it simpler, easier, and more intuitive to manage your storefront and maximise profitability,” says Marshall Sandman, Managing Partner at Animal Capital.

2. Circ

Textile-to-textile recycling specialist, Circ, has closed its latest ($25 million) investment round led by Taranis through its Carbon Ventures fund, with continued support from existing strategic investors, including fashion retailer Inditex, and Avery Dennison, a materials science and digital identification solutions company.

This takes the total raised to date to over $100 million.

“This chapter of our journey - scaling textile recycling to an industrial level - requires that we build on our proven technology with world class engineering, operations, and strategic investment from mission-aligned partners,” says Peter Majeranowski, CEO at Circ. “Taranis brings exactly that. Their industrial expertise, paired with our innovation, positions Circ to accelerate the transition to a circular fashion economy.”

3. Thanks

Ad network specialist Thanks has announced both $2.6 million in seed funding from venture firms Peak XV Partners, Founder Collective and Side Stage Ventures, alongside multinational partnerships with eBay and Zip.

“We’re all customers at the end of the day, and we all navigate - and often avoid - the constant bombardment of ads. We built Thanks because we believe the relationship between advertisers and customers should be rewarding, but it must be delivered in a way that respects the customer and adds value to their day,” says Steven Tesoriero, Co-CEO and Co-founder at Thanks.

“Acquisition is broken - retention is everything! Customers want to feel valued when they buy, which is why brands like Sezzle and eBay partner with Thanks,” says Amanda Herson, General Partner at Founder Collective. “We back founders, not just ideas, and I’m incredibly impressed by Thanks' vision to scale while keeping customer delight and brand authenticity at the core."

Since its launch in 2022, Thanks has expanded across APAC, the US, and the UK. Today, it partners with a network of retail marketplaces, ticketing platforms, and e-commerce brands worldwide, including eBay, Zip, and Sezzle.

4. SaySo

SaySo has emerged from stealth and secured $4 million in seed funding, led by VC firm UP.Partners.

David Olk, former co-founder of cloud-based PoS ShopKeep, helped launch the venture, an end-to-end clearance solution and price optimisation platform.

"Retailers all say the same thing: clearance inventory drains cash, takes up valuable space, and limits ability to bring in new products,” Olk says. "Offloading clearance inventory may be the bane of any retailer's existence, but we try to make it as smooth as possible. Our solution helps them effortlessly offload excess inventory while still driving brand awareness and profits."

SaySo partners with retailers to create co-branded, interactive shopping experiences. The platform uses a gamified pricing model where item prices gradually drop over time, allowing shoppers to “name their price” while encouraging engagement and urgency.

Unlike traditional clearance methods, SaySo enables retailers to sell excess inventory directly from their warehouses and distribution centres. At the same time, the platform captures pricing insights from each transaction, helping retailers refine future pricing strategies and optimise margins.

5. Mimo

Mimo, a platform that aims to simplify global payments, cash flow, and financial management for SMBs and accountants, has raised $8.5 million of new investment, led by Project A.

Previous investors Northzone and Seedcamp return to participate in this round. Mimo has also arranged an embedded funding partnership with Froda, a SMB financing provider, enabling it to provide UK SMBs with $125 million+ in flexible working capital solutions over the coming years, with potential for pan-European scalability.

Mimo will deploy the new equity funding to continue to build out its B2B payments solution for SMBs and expand its headcount.

It was founded in 2023 by Henrik Grim (CEO), former General Manager of Europe at Capchase and Investment Manager at Northzone, Alexander Gernandt Segerby (CPO), and Andreas Meisingseth (CTO), all formerly of iZettle. It has offices in London and Stockholm. 

Its platform is being used by businesses like protein breakfast brand Surreal, luxury mens- and womenswear brand Wales Bonner, and canned beans brand Bold Bean, as well as accounting firms supporting the SMB economy, like PM+M, TC Group and Green & Purple. 

6. Mesh

Mesh has raised $82 million in Series B funding to build what is pitched as the first truly global crypto payments network, one that makes crypto as easy, seamless, and universal to use as fiat. Most of the investments were closed with PayPal USD stablecoin.

The round, led by Paradigm with participation from Consensys, QuantumLight, Yolo Investments, Evolution VC, Hike Ventures, Opportuna and AltaIR Capital, brings the total funding to over $120 million.

Bam Azizi, Co-founder at Mesh, says: "Regulatory clarity is taking shape, institutions are leaning in, and stablecoins are booming. The industry has gotten everything it could have asked for, and then some. Crypto finally has its shot at mainstream adoption. The industry is ready, the technology is ready and we believe payments are the unlock."

"Our technology already powers payments, deposits, and transfers across 300+ wallets, exchanges, and platforms. We reach over 400 million users in 100+ countries. With this capital, we’re expanding globally to making crypto payments as easy as using a credit card."