Foreman Invests in Retail Tech Firm VST

Former ESOMAR President Dan Foreman has made an undisclosed amount of investment in retail tech provider Virtual Store Trials (VST), which offers AI solutions for shelf and pack testing, macro-space optimization, planogram visualization, and automated planogram builds.

Founded in 2016 by former dunnhumby exec Nick Theodore, London-based VST creates virtual stores to help retailers assess the at-shelf outcome of any assortment change. Since launch, the firm has tested hundreds of different scenarios with more than 75,000 respondents in Europe, the Middle East, and North America.

Foreman, who becomes an NED of the company, has more than twenty years' experience of building businesses across the Americas, Europe and Asia. He currently serves as Chair of the Boards of Zappi and Bakamo.Social; and he holds NED or advisory roles at Dalia Research, Veylinx, Borderless Access, Phebi, Haystack Multisensory Research, Course5i, Cross-Tab and Merlien. Earlier in his career, he served as Head of Business Development at Lumi Mobile, and he held senior roles at ActiveGroup, Opinium, and FocusVision, WFCA, Incite, Added Value and Research International, as well as client side at Kimberly-Clark.

Commenting on the funding, made through Foreman's investment vehicle 'hatted', and the appointment, Theodore said: 'We're excited to have Dan on board to help fuel our next stage of growth. We've built a market-leading product to take shelf-testing to the next level and with Dan's help, we look forward to partnering with more CPG brands and retailers on both this and our newest capabilities'.

Web sites: www.storetrials.com and www.hatted.co.uk .