A curated mix of recent articles on CPG & retail tech financings, exits, hirings, product launches, partnerships, and perspectives.
News
Casper goes private. Boxed mattress company, Casper has been acquired by private equity firm Durational Capital Management. The company went public in February 2020 with plans to expand to DTC channels, but it eventually turned to retailers like Target and Mattress Warehouse to sell product as the DTC mattress market became crowded.
The Verge
Hasbro goes live. Joining a string of retailers and brands that have launched livestream shopping events ahead of the holidays, Hasbro has announced plans to host its first livestream shopping event, Hasbro Holiday Shopping Live. Viewers will be able to browse and purchase items directly from shoppable tags on Hasbro's microsite during the event.
Retail Dive
SAP's sustainability play. SAP has launched Feather, a recommerce solution to help businesses design products sustainably.
SAP News Center
Hims & Hers at Walgreens. Personal care brand Hims & Hers has partnered with Walgreens to sell its sexual health, haircare, and other personal care products to customers online and in more than 7,000 of its stores. This collaboration with Walgreens marks the retailers effort to reach a broader consumer market.
Retail Dive
Deals
Dashing into Europe. Doordash has acquired Wolt, a food delivery platform, for $8.1B in an all-stock deal. Wolt has partnered with more than 30,000 restaurant and retail chains to deliver food across Europe and Asia. With the acquisition, DoorDash will be able to expand into Europe.
Walmart and chatbots. Walmart has acquired Botmock, which enables companies to design conversational experiences for their customers across several platforms and channels, namely WhatsApp, Bot Slack, Bot Web/Mobile Chat, and Alexa.
Smart thermostat acquisition. Generac Holdings, a manufacturer of generators and other engine-powered products, has acquired Ecobee, a home automation platform geared toward sustainability, in a deal that could be worth up to $770M. This acquisition will help Generac Holdings move into the smart home space.
Customer marketing platform. United Kingdom-based Ometria leverages AI in order to enable retailers and brands to send personalized marketing messages to their customers. The company has raised $40M in a Series C round and drew participation from Adjuvo, Columbia Lake Partners, and InfraVia Capital, among others.
Part of the Hive. Hive Technologies, an e-commerce fulfillment company, has raised $34M in a Series B round. The round drew participation from Tiger Global Management, Activant Capital, Earlybird Venture Capital, and Picus Capital.
Perspectives
Fashion tech's future. Coming off hyper-growth of online sales during the pandemic, fashion tech companies are experiencing slowed growth in online sales and, as a result, earnings misses. Brian Baskin (@brianjbaskin) offers retailers food for thought in their quest to win more customers.
Business of Fashion
Stocking up. Lisa Lacy (@lisalacy) discusses today's supply chain challenges and how they will impact retailers in 2022 and beyond.
Ad Week
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