RetailNext Secures $30 Million in Growth Equity Financing

SAN JOSE, Calif., July 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- RetailNext, Inc., the leader in applied Big Data for physical retail, today announced the completion of $30 million in growth financing, drawing strategic investments from Qualcomm Incorporated, through its venture investment group, Qualcomm Ventures, Tyco and American Express. Nokia Growth Partners (NGP) led the round which included new investor Activant Capital Group and existing shareholders August Capital, StarVest Partners and Commerce Ventures.

The financing brings the total capital raised by RetailNext to $59 million, and further establishes the company as a leader in retail analytics, with over 140 global retail customers and new store deployments growing at a rate of 400 to 1,000 per month.

"RetailNext is the clear leader with in-store analytics, and is the pioneering company that created the category," said Alexei Agratchev, founder and chief executive officer of RetailNext. "No other company in the space comes close to delivering the depth of innovations in our patented products, the size of our global install base, or our annual revenue. This round of financing, the first true equity growth financing in the space, further validates the tremendous growth of our business, our world-class team and the unique platform we deliver to customers."

The first technology platform to bring e-commerce style shopper analytics to brick-and-mortar stores and malls, RetailNext enables retailers to collect and correlate data from the broadest available set of data sources. More than 140 retailers and brands worldwide have adopted RetailNext solutions to glean the insights necessary to improve customer experience, increase same-store sales, reduce theft and eliminate unnecessary costs.

"During this rapid expansion for RetailNext, we have carefully chosen investors who can help bring competencies to our business and are leaders within their industries, including payments, loyalty, in-store location, inventory and security technologies," added Agratchev. "We are privileged and proud to have them as investors and shareholders." 

"RetailNext is the first company in the world to provide a proven in-store analytics platform for retailers at scale," said John Gardner, NGP managing partner. "With its rapid growth, proprietary technology and proven leadership team, they are well positioned to be a leader in the multi-billion dollar global retail analytics market as online-to-offline at retail converges."

"RetailNext's technology and analytics solution allows retailers to run a more effective, efficient and overall smarter business," said Harshul Sanghi, managing partner, AMEX Ventures. "As merchants around the globe continue to navigate the multichannel landscape to reach customers, RetailNext is poised to expand its leadership position in this rapidly growing sector."

"As a pioneer in wireless technologies, Qualcomm is proud to work with RetailNext, said Quinn Li, vice president, Qualcomm Ventures. "By applying wireless and location technologies, RetailNext is providing comprehensive analytics solutions to help retailers improve business operations."

"We have maintained a strong commitment to driving and delivering innovative services and technologies that help solve key retailer challenges," said Nancy Chisholm, Vice President and General Manager, Tyco Retail Solutions. "The equity investment in RetailNext complements our open innovation strategy, enabling our retail customers to perform real-time analysis for improved merchandising, operations and customer service."

Recently recognized by CIO Review in its "Big Data 100" and by AlwaysOn in its list of top 100 best private companies disrupting the computing paradigm, RetailNext will use the additional investments for:

• Rapid global expansion of operations in Europe, Asia/Pacific rim, Latin America and emerging markets
• Extensive investment in research and development, including expanding engineering resources and broadening platform features
• Continued development of new in-store location and predictive analytics technologies

About RetailNext
RetailNext measures the behavior more than one billion shoppers per year by collecting data from more than 65,000 sensors in retail stores and analyzing trillions of data points annually. Headquartered in San Jose, CA, RetailNext is a growing global brand operating in 40 countries. For more information, please visit www.retailnext.net.

RetailNext Inc. and RetailNext are trademarks of RetailNext Inc. in the United States.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140113/CL44102LOGO 

SOURCE RetailNext