The Retail Times is a weekly newsletter covering retail tech news from Canada and around the globe.
Subscribe to R|T using the form at the bottom of this page to ensure you don’t miss out on the most important retail tech news every week!
Hyr raises $1.6 million to help retailers embrace the gig economy (BETAKIT)
The company will use the funding to expand across Canada and the US.
DMS Recommends: Is your digital workplace keeping up with technology? (DMS)
Finding tech news relevant to your business needn’t be time-consuming.
Apartment List raises $50 million for home rentals (TECHCRUNCH)
Apartment List, which connects would-be renters with those listing rental properties in the US, raised the funds from Passport Capital, Canaan Partners, and Industry Ventures.
At retail trade show, technology is the star (NYTIMES)
The floor of the National Retail Federation’s annual trade show in New York last week was crowded with alert systems primed to recognize heavy-spending customers, so-called smart shelves fitted with real-time inventory trackers, and robots for every step of the supply chain.
Toronto only Canadian city to make #AmazonHQ2 shortlist (BETAKIT)
Amazon will do a deeper dive into the proposals of shortlisted cities over the coming months.
True Fit, the personalisation platform for apparel and footwear, raises $55M Series C (TECHCRUNCH)
True Fit, which helps customers be sure the clothes they purchase online will actually fit them, raised the funding from Georgian Partners, with participation from Cross Creek Captial.
Adobe is bolstering its retail tech capabilities (STRATEGYONLINE)
Live in-store tracking and VR are among the tools Adobe says will help improve the shopping experience.
Instacart acquires Toronto-based Unata to build more online grocery solutions (BETAKIT)
Unata will act as an independent subsidiary of Instacart and its headquarters will remain in Toronto.
Swedish fashion e-commerce company NA-KD raises $45M Series B (TECHCRUNCH)
NA-KD, an ecommerce company that sells women’s clothes directly to consumers, raised the funding from Partech, with participation from FJ Labs.
5 technologies transforming retail in 2018 (BUSINESS OF FASHION)
From artificial intelligence to blockchain, five important innovations can help fashion businesses make their processes more efficient, enhance user experience, and offer an improved overall customer value proposition.
JD.com leads investment in Vietnam-based e-commerce service Tiki (TECHCRUNCH)
The investment will expand online retail company JD.com’s presence in Southeast Asia and also fend off further competition from Alibaba and Amazon.