New Funds to Drive Aggressive Growth for Crisp

Arkansas, US-based retail data platform Crisp has completed a $26m Series B1 round of funding, with which it plans to grow 'aggressively', adding new platform features and functionality, expanding its data partnerships, investing in its flagship AI Agent product, and recruiting globally.

Established in 2017, Crisp connects and integrates more than 40 retail data sources - including shared POS and supply chain data - to provide brands, retailers and distributors with real-time insights and trend information. This is used to improve the efficiency of supply, reduce waste, set prices, manage inventory, create a more sustainable food value chain and raise profitability. Last year the firm closed a $72m Series B round of equity funding, and in April this year it announced the acquisitions of two UK companies, Atheon Analytics and ClearBox Analytics.

This year the company launched a purpose-built retail sector AI agent platform called AI Agent Studio, which it says orchestrates the delivery of supply chain insights and prompts actions that improve retail performance in real time. This 'vertical AI' is geared towards specific practical tasks such as automatically reducing out-of-stocks, maximizing e-commerce revenue, and optimizing assortment and space planning.

The funding, which brings Crisp's total to date to $127 million, was led by sustainable food chain investor Paine Schwartz Partners, and joined by Blue Could Ventures, FirstMark Capital, Cox, DNX, Prologis and Wellington Management.

Founder and CEO Are Traasdahl (pictured) comments, 'Investors are looking to support companies that are demonstrating measurable change through advanced technology. Paine Schwartz recognizes that Crisp represents a compelling opportunity to invest in a scaling, high-ROI vertical AI data platform operating at the intersection of commerce, supply chain, and sustainability.'

Web site: www.gocrisp.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.