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Don’t waste another dime on bloated channel reporting and vanity metrics.
Don’t waste another dime on bloated channel reporting and vanity metrics.
Plus, new funding for grocery, footwear and food tech.
(Illustration by The Current)
Welcome to Dealboard. In this weekly feature, The Current is providing a look at the mergers, acquisitions and venture capital deals making waves in the ecommerce and consumer goods landscape.
This week, cross-border commerce companies team up, eBay acquires an NFT marketplace and a pair of automotive ecommerce platforms raise new funds.
Check out the details:
Cross-border commerce is in focus with one of the most-talked-about acquisitions of the week.
Global-e, which enables direct-to-consumer ecommerce internationally, is acquiring Borderfree from shipping company Pitney Bowes for $100 million in cash, the companies announced.
Borderfree helps retailers localize a website to a specific country as they expand, offering this service for more than 200 countries. Now, that service will be extended to Global-e customers, while Borderfree clients will gain access to Global-e's data models and algorithms, among other offerings.
With the deal, Pitney Bowes will provide ecommerce logistics services to Global-e and its clients.
Ecommerce platform eBay acquired KnownOrigin, a platform that provides artists with a place to create nonfungible tokens (NFTs) that serve as digital collectibles.
Founded in 2018 in Manchester, UK, KnownOrigin enables artists and collectors to buy and resell NFTs. eBay said this addition is part of a “tech-led reimagination” of the 23-year-old marketplace. It started allowing buying and selling of NFTs in 2021.
"eBay is the first stop for people across the globe who are searching for that perfect, hard-to-find, or unique addition to their collection and, with this acquisition, we will remain a leading site as our community is increasingly adding digital collectibles," said Jamie Iannone, CEO of eBay, in a statement. "KnownOrigin has built up an impressive, passionate and loyal group of artists and collectors making them a perfect addition to our community of sellers and buyers.”
London-based grocery tech company Ocado Group raised a total of £875M in new funding, which translates to a dollar value of about $1.1 billion. This included a £578m equity placement and a new £300m revolving credit facility.
The company owns a 50% stake in online grocery platform Ocado.com. It also offers fulfillment technology to grocers such as Kroger.
With the funding, it plans to make good on plans to build 50 customer fulfillment centers to 11 grocers around the world.
Miracle Miles Group, a footwear tech company that also operates consumer brands, raised $100 million in a Series A funding round.
Led by DG Capital and Sequoia Capital China, the funding round will help the company expand globally.
"This round of funding has been closed despite a particularly challenging and turbulent capital market, which shows the confidence of world-class investors in the strength of our business," said Founder Brian Cao, in a statement. "To prepare for global expansion, the company is developing an intelligent cloud platform to analyze the industry's big data. Establishing highly-efficient digital management systems enhances the entire product life cycle from product design and development to end-consumer business."
Additionally, LA-based Miracle Miles operates three brands: Women’s footwear brand Dream Pairs, outdoor recreation line Nortiv8 and menswear brand Bruno Marc.
Carparts.com, an ecommerce platform for auto parts and accessories, said it increased an existing credit facility with JPMorgan Chase Bank to $75 million.
This comes after the Torrance, California-based company said it posted record first quarter revenue of $166 million, which was up 80% on a two-year stack.
"This credit facility gives us a non-dilutive source of capital that will allow us to focus on financially disciplined growth and we are optimistic about our ability to succeed regardless of the economic environment," said CEO David Meniane, in a statement.
Michael Rubin, the CEO of online sportswear retailer Fanatics, is selling his stake in Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, the company that owns the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils.
Rubin, who owns a 10% equity stake in the company per ESPN, cited growth at Fanatics as the reason he is departing the minority ownership role. He released a statement that said the following in part:
“As our Fanatics business has grown, so too have the obstacles I have to navigate to ensure our new businesses don’t conflict with my responsibilities as part-owner of the Sixers. With the launch of our trading cards and collectibles business earlier this year — which will have individual contracts with thousands of athletes globally — and a soon-to-launch sports betting operation, these new businesses will directly conflict with the ownership rules of sports leagues. Given these realities, I will sadly be selling my stake in the Sixers and shifting from part-owner back to life-long fan.”
The London-based retail and fashion house Frasers Group now owns a 4.9% stake in Hugo Boss after increasing its holding in the luxury brand.
The company’s stake is now worth 900 million euros, according to a regulatory filing.
“This investment reflects Frasers Group's belief in the Hugo Boss brand, strategy and management team,” the company wrote. “Frasers Group continues to intend to be a supportive stakeholder and create value in the interests of both Frasers Group's and Hugo Boss' shareholders.”
Car-buying marketplace Autozen raised $5 million in a seed round.
The funding for the Vancouver, Canada-based company was led by Vanedge Capital, with participation from Anges Québec, several super-angels and the company’s existing investors.
Autozen operates a consumer-to-business model, in which cars are sold to professional buyers.
Following the funding round, the company plans to expand to Toronto, Calgary and Edmonton. It is also launching a US presence, starting with Seattle.
Food tech company Chinova Bioworks raised $6 million in a Series A investment.
The round was co-led by DSM Venturing and Rhapsody Venture Partners, with Rich Products Ventures also participating.
The New Brunswick, Canada-based company developed a clean-label preservative that is created from the stems of white button mushrooms that would otherwise be discarded. Called Chiber, it is vegan, kosher, Halal, and allergen-free.
Going forward, the company plans to grow its team, launch new products and expand production capacity at a facility on Prince Edward Island that is set to open later this summer.
"Chinova has been crushing it for more than five years. It’s been amazing to see how quickly Chinova has been able to add customers, making investing a no-brainer,” said Bernard Lupien, general partner at Rhapsody Venture Partners, in a statement. “Furthermore, Chinova’s planet-friendly process of upcycling the otherwise discarded stems of white button mushrooms to create Chiber is precisely what consumers are asking for.”
The partnership brings together subscriptions and shoppable content.
A Wendy's ad on Roku. (Courtesy photo)
Roku and DoorDash are teaming up to connect TV and food delivery in one experience.
The news: Roku and DoorDash announced a new partnership that will allow people to order food delivery from a shoppable ad on their TV. Along with the capabilities being put in place by the tech platforms, Wendy’s is also adding shoppable content that will provide a discount on ordering at launch.
How does it work? For Roku account holders, there are three parts to the partnership:
DashPass: DoorDash is providing a complementary six-month DoorDash subscription. Called DashPass, this provides $0 delivery fees on orders from restaurants, grocery and retail stores on DoorDash’s marketplace.
Shoppable ads: Roku viewers will be able to click from their remote to order straight from ads on Roku via offers provided through DoorDash. For the first year, DoorDash will be the exclusive ad solution provider for restaurants on its marketplace to buy shoppable ads on Roku. With this, restaurant advertisers will also be able to work with DoorDash to attribute, target and measure TV streaming ads.
Wendy’s: The companies said Wendy’s also upped its digital capabilities as part of this partnership. The chain will make offers available through the shoppable ads. At launch, it will provide $5 off any Wendy’s purchase of $15 or more.
Key quote from Rob Edell, GM and head of consumer engagement at DoorDash: “While this offer unlocks DashPass benefits and perks for Roku users everywhere, it also provides our merchant partners with an opportunity to promote DoorDash offers through TV streaming. Consumers can conveniently and affordably get the best of their neighborhood delivered to their door, while brands can reach diners at the right time and drive instant conversion from the comfort of the living room.”
The partnership is a sign that several different strategies being employed in digital media and commerce are converging:
Streaming and delivery: Watching TV and ordering food is a common behavior. In fact, Roku research indicates that one in three users order takeout or food delivery weekly. The partnership shows how there is room for the platforms that provide each of these distinct services to work together. It's a reminder not just to monitor how customers use your product, but what other products and services they use with it.
Shoppable ads and subscriptions: As digital commerce grows, there’s interest in reducing the steps between when a user thinks about making a purchase, and when they actually click “Buy.” This partnership does that in a couple of ways. With shoppable ads, Roku viewers can order directly from their TV, and even within the show they are watching. Switching devices may be a barrier, however small, to a sale. On DoorDash’s side, putting a subscription in place means users don’t have to think about logging in or consider delivery fees. This shows how introducing more interactive capabilities to streaming can open up new opportunities for commerce. Roku data shows that 36% of its users are interested in receiving interactive offers, such as a scannable QR code or text message. Such capabilities allow users to take action without switching screens.
Retail media and CTV: On the advertising side, the partnership is connecting DoorDash’s ad network with Roku’s content capabilities. DoorDash operates as a marketplace, while Roku serves ads during streaming content. Both have powerful customer data. DoorDash has purchase-level, or first-party, data. Roku has data on millions of customers, and the ability to reach them while they are doing the common activity of watching TV. The platforms also both have the ability to target users and measurement capabilities that can make this whole system even more powerful. While this partnership sets out one way the companies will work together immediately, it’s a safe bet that the partners will find other areas of mutual benefit to explore.
Further reading: It’s just the latest move by Roku to bring shoppable content to the platform. Last year, the streamer partnered with Walmart to pilot direct ordering straight from shoppable ads.
Is Amazon next? Break down the individual parts of this partnership: Subscription, delivery network, marketplace, streaming platform, advertising capabilities. Amazon owns each of these, and it even has a restaurant delivery partnership with Grubhub. Will it put these parts to work in a similar way? The better question may be, how long until it does so?