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!
Ritual announces international expansion into UK and Australia (BETAKIT)
Ritual will also be available in more than 40 North American cities, and the company aims to more than triple its restaurant count by the end of the year.
DMS Recommends: Still sharing passwords? Yikes! Time to train your employees on security basics (DMS)
The most dangerous scams are those that look genuine. Be wary of senders, even someone you know or a company you trust.
Pinterest selects Goldman, JPMorgan to lead IPO (BLOOMBERG)
The visual search site, where users post and look for pictures that interest them, could raise about $1.5 billion in an IP0.
Lightspeed launches integrated payments system ahead of planned IPO (BETAKIT)
Lightspeed Payments is now available for the company’s US-based retailers, and integrates with the company’s full PoS and ecommerce platforms.
FabFitFun raises $80 million for its growing lifestyle brand (TECHCRUNCH)
The funding was led by Kleiner Perkins, with participation from its previous investors Upfront Ventures and NEA.
Mattress maker Casper’s first gadget is a smartphone-controlled bedside light (THEVERGE)
The Glow is designed to help you wind down at night.
Amazon and Flipkart pull 100,000s of products to comply with new Indian law (TECHCRUNCH)
First announced at the end of 2018, the new regulation imposes a ban on exclusive sales, prevents retailers from selling products on platforms they count as investors and applies restrictions on discounts and cashback promotions.
Aislelabs announces new Payment Wi-Fi feature for retail enterprises (BETAKIT)
Asilelabs’ Payment WiFi will allow businesses to charge customers for Wi-Fi access based on duration, data usage, and bandwidth allocation.
Grab raises $200M from Thailand-based retail conglomerate Central Group (TECHCRUNCH)
Following this investment, Central Group said it will work with Grab in a number of areas in Thailand, including bringing its restaurants into the Grab Food service, adding Grab transportation to its physical outlets and bringing Grab’s logistics service into its businesses.
Dadi raises under $2M in funding (FINSMES)
Dadi, which offers an option for sperm storage and fertility testing with a home-fertility test and sperm storage kit, raised the funding from Third Kind Ventures, firstminute capital, and others.
eBay tops Q4 targets, says payments are part of long-term growth plan (ZDNET)
eBay said it intermediated nearly $140 million in GMV during Q4, following the multi-year rollout of its managed payments capability.
Sources: Clutter is raising $200-250M led by SoftBank for on-demand storage and moving (TECHCRUNCH)
For it and a number of its competitors, the target users are consumers based in urban areas who live in smaller spaces with less storage options; have the disposable income not only to buy stuff but to pay to keep it somewhere else.