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Vecna Robotics, a SaaS provider that powers autonomous forklifts, closed its $100 million Series C to bring more robots to warehouses and factories.

Why it matters: Autonomous robots can mitigate constraints like rising labor costs and a labor shortage while saving companies money.

Case in point: A company running three shifts of labor and paying workers $40 an hour can end up paying $240,000 a year — for three people to drive one forklift truck, CEO Craig Malloy tells Axios.

Vecna charges companies $6,000 to $7,000 a month to do the same job by comparison, he says.

Zoom in: Vecna announced an initial $65 million raise in 2022. Tiger Global Management, Proficio Capital Partners and Impulse participated in the final tranche of the round, providing $40 million in equity and debt.

The new funds value the company at about $400 million, per PitchBook. Malloy declined to confirm the figure, but said "it's not radically off."

The company could reach profitability within the next one to two years, he says.

The big picture: Venture funding toward supply chain startups reached a $60 billion-plus peak in 2021. That's a stark contrast to the $10 billion invested into the sector last year, per PitchBook.

How it works: Vecna's software-powered forklift trucks are connected to the warehouse management system, which gives them missions and directs them to various locations around the warehouse to pick up pallets or totes of raw materials and take them to other locations.

The forklifts — which the company buys from a supplier of manual trucks that it builds into self-driving vehicles — are "fully aware of their surroundings" so they can avoid obstacles and adapt their routes.

There's also a 24/7 contact center whereby a robot will ping a human operator if it runs into issues.

What's next: Vecna wants to enable its robots to do the ground-to-ground, low-lift movement of pallets around warehouses and will launch case-picking capabilities early next year.

The company operates in North America, which it plans to double down on, but Malloy says it could consider Asia and Europe longer term.

Vecna Robotics closes $100M Series C

Illustration of a robot arm holding a metal hundred dollar bill 

The European IPO market appears to be gaining steam. 

Luxury sneaker brand Golden Goose and clothing retailer Tendam are well on their way to public listings and bakery business Europastry and convenience store chain Zabka Polska are planning initial offerings, per reports.

Yes, but: Stock market weakness and nervousness about the impact of a snap election in France called by President Emmanuel Macron has shut the door, if temporarily, with Tendam and Golden Goose pulling their IPOs.

Europe is now processing the potential fallout from gains made by far-right parties in the recent European Parliament election.

In other public market news, shares of Mexican fast-food chain Guzman y Gomez gained 36% on the first day of trading in Australia, raising hopes for an IPO revival there.

Allied Blenders & Distillers, an Indian spirits distiller, set the terms for its IPO that could value it at $960 million, Bloomberg reports.

Department store chain Belk is seeking $500 million in refinancing to lower interest costs via an effort led by KKR, Bloomberg reports.

Note that PE firms KKR and Blackstone received stakes in Belk as the result of a speedy trip through bankruptcy in 2021.

PE firm Sycamore, which conducted a leveraged buyout of the struggling retailer back in 2015, continues to have a controlling stake.

Bragg, a maker of apple cider vinegar that is backed by PE firm Swander Pace and celebrity power couple Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom, has tapped Bank of America to explore a sale that could value the business at more than $500 million, Reuters reports.

Tate & Lyle, a supplier of solutions and ingredients to food and beverage companies, has agreed to acquire natural ingredient maker CP Kelco for $1.8 billion, per the WSJ.

The deal positions the acquirer as a global supplier with the ability to meet the growing demand for healthier products.

Retail therapy

illustration of a white plastic shopping bag with the words "retail therapy" printed on it 

Jefferies held its annual consumer conference on Monday and Tuesday, bringing together top industry executives, analysts and investors in sunny, temperate Nantucket, Mass.

The big picture: The expectation is that both IPOs and M&A will gain steam in the back half of the year and early next year, hinging in part on companies producing positive comparable results in the third and fourth quarters.

That challenge is made easier given many consumer-facing businesses produced lackluster results in the second half of 2023.

Highlights from the gathering include Williams-Sonoma, whose executives touted the retailer's growing profits even though same-store sales and revenue have taken a beating.

The company's secret weapon may be its B2B business, which it expects to be its biggest growth driver, increasing to $2 billion in sales over the next five years.

It's working with hotel chains like Marriott and stadiums such as Citi Field, plus office buildings, cruise ships and restaurants.

Williams-Sonoma is also in the process of retooling West Elm and expanding Williams-Sonoma Home online.

a.k.a. Brands, which owns DTC apparel brands such as Princess Polly and Culture Kings, is adding physical stores to its online mix.

It plans to open three or four Princess Polly stores in Q3 and Q4 and around 10 locations for Culture King.

It also sees wholesale as a way to both sell and market the brands now that they've proven they will sell in the U.S.

In the meantime, the company has been focused on reducing debt to the tune of $15 million and will continue to deleverage.

Dutch Bros. Coffee, as it approaches 900 locations, plans to add between 150 and 165 to that number this year.

It also had success with new offerings such as protein coffee and strawberry boba.

Trends to keep an eye on in the short term are the switch from hot beverages to iced and in the long term the switch to energy drinks.

Portillo's, a purveyor of Chicago street food, is introducing a new restaurant prototype, which it is currently building in Texas, a new market for the chain.

Executives there say the redesign could take $1 million of costs out of a restaurant.

Signet Jewelers, which operates banners such as Jared, Kay and Zales, pointed out that lab-grown diamonds due to their more affordable prices are helping to boost sales of fashion jewelry.

Last, but not least, Wingstop, the chicken wing chain, plans to reduce its franchisee brand partners to about 150 from well over 200.

Notes from Nantucket

✨ It was a conference-filled (short) week. Kim was at Beauty Independent's Dealmaker Summit in New York, and Richard, as noted above, attended Jefferies' consumer confab.

Monday, June 17: AI search platform Constructor raises $25M and BlueTriton and Primo Water merge. Read the newsletter

Food tech funding slides in Q1 but opportunities remain

Proxy adviser ISS changes view on Vista Outdoor deal

Catch up quick

Want more retail deals? Go deeper into our full database in the Axios Pro Deals Tracker.

• Zendesk, a customer support software company taken private in 2022 for $10.2b, tells Axios that it's launching a corporate VC arm to back early-stage AI startups. axios.link/3RwCb3x

• GrayMatter, a Gardena, Calif., industrial robotics company, raised $45m in Series B funding. Wellington Management led, with participation by NGP Capital, Euclidean Capital, Advance Venture Partners, SQN Venture Partners, 3M Ventures, B Capital, Bow Capital, Calibrate Ventures, OCA Ventures, and Swift Ventures. graymatter-robotics.com

• This, a British developer of plant-based meats, raised a £20m Series C funding round from Planet First Partners. axios.link/4clstZI

• TA Associates tapped Morgan Stanley to find a buyer for Netrisk Group, a Hungarian price comparison site that could fetch around €500m, per Reuters. axios.link/3KKsbjo

• Sainsbury's (LSE: SBRY), the British grocery giant, agreed to sell its banking unit to NatWest (LSE: NWG), which will receive both the customer assets and £125 million in cash. https://axios.link/3VSsAGM

• Shift4 (NYSE: FOUR) acquired a majority stake in German point-of-sale firm Vectron Systems. It also completed its previously announced acquisition of Atlanta's Revel Systems from backers like Welsh, Carson and Anderson & Stowe. axios.link/4erpMrc

Retail transactions

• Ananya Das is leaving Guggenheim Securities to join UBS as a managing director focused on services companies, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3z6GlJ3

• Piyush Chaudhari was named CEO of Salsify, a product experience management platform. axios.link/3zah9kS

It's Personnel

🍵 What we're drinking: Richard had a very tasty, iced lavender matcha latte made with oat milk at The Corner Table Cafe in Nantucket.

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

🙏 Thank you for reading Retail Deals. Please ask your colleagues, friends and family to sign up. See you next week!

1 big thing: Vecna Robotics closes $100M Series C

2. Retail therapy

3. Notes from Nantucket

4. Catch up quick

5.  Retail transactions

6.  It's Personnel

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June 21, 2024

1 big thing: Vecna Robotics closes $100M Series C