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Simbe Robotics plans to bring its autonomous shelf-scanning retail robot to more retailers with freshly-raised capital, CEO Brad Bogolea tells Kimberly.

Why it matters: Solving the excess inventory challenge calls for automation, with inventory robot startups emerging and amassing funding.

Driving the news: This month, San Francisco-based Simbe raised $28 million in a Series B round led by Eclipse.

State of play: Simbe joins a host of inventory robot startups that have recently notched fundraises. In the past month alone...

B Garage, a San Jose, Calif.-based drone inventory startup, raised $20 million.

Verity, a Swiss drone-delivery firm, snagged $11 million.

Dexory, a London startup that uses robots and AI to provide inventory management data from warehouses, raised $19 million.

How it works: Simbe's robot, dubbed Tally, moves through store aisles three to four times a day to retrieve product location data, which helps retailers identify out-of-stock items, and misplaced or mispriced products.

“With a mobile platform, it keeps up very well with changes within the environments, whereas fixed infrastructure will often need to be reset,” says Bogolea.

What’s next: Simbe, which launched its robots across BJ’s Wholesale Club chains this spring, is also partnering with retailers like Schnucks Markets, SpartanNash, Wakefern and Carrefour.

The company focuses on larger grocers, ones with 50 to 100 stores or more.

Simbe plans to move into other store formats and categories, such as general-merchandise retailers, as well as drug, value, and convenience stores, Bogolea says.

Simbe hopes to leverage its data to represent downstream monetization opportunities for both the retailers and the company, he adds.

What they’re saying: “The store shelf is kind of a data gap,” Bogolea says.

Determining if a product needs to be restocked, is in the wrong store, or is stolen is key to managing inventory well, he adds.

“You really need true instrumentation at the shelf level to unlock this value,” he says.

Through leveraging its system, Bogolea says grocers can use the data to boost sales, improve margins and help employees to solve problems quickly.

Catch up fast: In 2019, the company raised $26 million in a Series A led by Venrock with participation from Future Shape, Valo Ventures and Activant Capital.

At the same time, the company also inked a financing agreement with SoftBank Robotics to augment its robot.

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that Simbe does not collect data on customers and to clarify that some of its retail partnerships are underway.

1 big thing: Simbe brings inventory bots to more stores

Illustration of a robot with a dollar sign screen on its face

PetSmart has agreed to sell a minority stake to private equity firm Apollo, the Phoenix-based pet retailer announced yesterday.

Why it's the BFD: Per Bloomberg, PE firm BC Partners sold part of its stake generating a 3x return on its original investment after shelving plans to take the retailer public last year, Richard writes.

Details: Apollo will join BC Partners, GIC, and PetSmart's management as an owner. The deal is expected to close in Q4, according to the announcement.

BC Partners, GIC and management, however, will remain majority owners and retain control of the board.

Between the lines: Increasing pet ownership broadly and PetSmart's physical locations offering services such as grooming, training, and veterinary care specifically will continue to drive the business forward, per the announcement.

Catch up fast: BC Partners first invested in PetSmart in 2015. Since then the retailer increased its revenue by 40%.

During that time the PE-backed retailer notably acquired and then split off the e-commerce unit Chewy.

BC Partners did not immediately respond to a request for comment confirming the return on its investment.

2. The BFD: PetSmart snags investment from Apollo

Illustration of a pet carrier overflowing with money. 

Olo (NYSE:OLO), a restaurant technology provider, added new features including card-present payment processing and the ability to integrate Borderless with loyalty programs.

Why it matters: The New York-based SaaS business wants to gain a greater share of the 60 billion transactions conducted annually by the restaurant industry, Richard writes.

Details: Borderless allows customers to pay via their account profiles without having to enter a password, CEO Noah Glass tells Richard.

Customers enter their email addresses, and Olo's platform recognizes their preferred payment method and delivery address.

Borderless can now be integrated with brands' loyalty programs.

Card-present payment processing is another key offering that allows Olo, which has been focused on facilitating digital payments, to service kiosks.

The restaurant tech company is also using machine learning to calculate accurate ready times for customers and delivery providers with a product it calls OrderReady AI.

What they're saying: Olo thinks of itself as a restaurant technology platform that facilitates orders, payments and diner engagement, Glass explains.

In addition to digital, the company is now facilitating transactions inside the four walls of a restaurant with QR code ordering and payment.

"The restaurant can really manage their entire digital business in one place and that's our platform," Glass says.

"We're then syndicating that content out to third parties such as DoorDash, Uber Eats and GrubHub," he adds.

By the numbers: Olo's revenue increased 22% year over year to about $52 million in the first quarter, while gross profit increased 13% to nearly $34 million.

The big picture: American diners are allocating more of their dollars to restaurants and away from cooking, aligning with a broader trend of outsourcing, Glass says.

The restaurant industry itself has evolved from sit-down service to off-premise via delivery, drive-thru and takeout or pickup.

Even within grocery, hot or fresh prepared food on-demand has increased its share.

The bottom line: Restaurants comprise a massive trillion-dollar industry that is still under-penetrated digitally, the CEO says.

3. Olo takes bigger bite of restaurant transactions with new features

Illustration of repeating dinner plate emojis with smiley faces on them.

💵 Settle, a cash-flow management firm, has secured up to $145 million in a new credit facility from Silicon Valley Bank, our Fintech Deals colleague Ryan Lawler writes.

The funds will be used to expand its ability to offer working capital to consumer brands and e-commerce businesses.

🧴 L’Occitane’s controlling shareholder is mulling taking the skin care company private, Bloomberg reports, citing sources familiar.

Billionaire Reinold Geiger is exploring financing options for a deal, which could result in him potentially buying out minority shareholders of the group, which is listed in Hong Kong.

🤑 AppHub, the e-commerce enablement platform, has snagged a $95 million strategic investment from growth-equity firm PSG.

The company also acquired Boost, an AI-powered search and discovery tool.

Existing investor Silversmith Capital partners will continue to partner with AppHub.

4. Retail therapy

• Supply Change Capital, a Los Angeles-based venture firm focused on the future of food, raised $40m for its first fund. https://axios.link/46ZdoLx

• Mood Media, the Austin-based firm that acquired Vibenomics in March, and Stingray Group, a Montreal-based media company, agreed to combine their retail media in-store networks, which together will reach more than 800 million monthly shoppers across more than 25,000 locations.

• Ilooda, a South Korean medical aesthetic devices maker, is in talks to sell a 20% to 30% stake to PE firm Bain Capital, the Korea Economic Daily reports. Last year, Bain acquired a controlling stake in Korean beauty device maker Classys. https://axios.link/3q0yTLg

• GTCR acquired Once For All, a U.K. and France-based compliance and supply chain management software provider, from Warburg Pincus. https://axios.link/44TTwaQ

• JDE Peet’s, owner of Peet’s coffee brand, plans to buy Maratá’s coffee and tea businesses in Brazil. https://axios.link/3rMIPZy

• Kingswood Capital Management acquired fragrance retailer Obsession Holdings. https://axios.link/452EAr5

5. Retail transactions

• Thomas Gayner, CEO of Markel Group, a holding company with insurance, services and industrial operations, has been named to the board of Coca-Cola Co. Henrique Braun, who served as the company’s president of international development, was promoted to senior vice president. https://axios.link/3YciP5W

• Chris Blakeslee, formerly of athleisure brand Alo Yoga, was named retailer Gap’s president and CEO. https://axios.link/3pVh3JP

• Stacy Bowman, current Chewy chief accounting officer, was named interim CFO of the online pet food supplier, replacing Mario Marte. https://axios.link/43FmNF1

• Dave Ciesco, formerly with apparel retailer American Eagle Outfitters, was named CFO of grocery chain The Fresh Market. https://axios.link/3DwerFj

• Chobani, a yogurt maker, appointed former Corsair executive Tom Cullen as chief information officer. https://axios.link/3OfappU

• Alessio Vannetti, Valentino’s chief brand officer, is leaving the company to pursue new career opportunities. Laurent Bergamo, the company’s chief commercial officer of the Americas, Brazil, Europe and the Middle East, has been named chief commercial officer. Andrea Cappi has been named chief e-commerce and omnichannel officer in a newly-created unit. Yigit Turhan, Valentino’s director of brand strategy, was named CMO. https://axios.link/44GE2qQ

• Glenn McMahon, the former CEO of luxury brand St. John Knits, was named Los Angeles denim and knitwear brand AG Denim’s first CEO. Previously, the company was run by its co-founder Yul Ku. https://axios.link/4766sfs

6. It's Personnel

Situational awareness: BuyBuy Baby could reopen stores again, after Dream on Me won a bid to buy 11 of 20 store leases at a bankruptcy auction for about $1.17 million, per court filings.

📺 What we're watching: Richard has been tuning in to the latest season of sci-fi series "Foundation," now on Apple TV+.

🙏 Many thanks to newsletter editor Claire Rychlewski and copy editor Mickey Meece for today's edits.

Thank you for reading Retail Deals. Catch you again tomorrow!

July 25, 2023

1 big thing: Simbe brings inventory bots to more stores