As we wrap up the first quarter, we wanted to provide an update on what we’re seeing in our portfolio and in the marketplace.
There’s been a dramatic shift over the past 18 months as we’ve moved from a great exit climate to now a great entrance climate. And thankfully at RevTech Ventures, our investment opportunity has never looked better with strong deal flow and the beginnings of a valuation reset.
On the heels of ShopTalk 2023, the top theme we are most excited about investing in is AI, as applied to personalized marketing, store analytics, and inventory management. Retailers and brands have ever-growing mountains of data and AI is the key to translating this into actionable insights across the spectrum for the first time.
A few portfolio highlights:
1. Birdzi’s latest product, VISPER 2.0, released summer 2022 is showing strong initial results, hitting a 30x ROI at one of their grocer deployments. Read more on Birdzi & VISPER.
Birdzi is a personalization platform for independent grocery chains.
2. Crave Retail is not only in the midst of a full deployment at Victoria’s Secret, but has also expanded it’s relationship with customer number one into the UK. Read more on the Under Armour expansion.
Crave Retail is a powerful fitting room technology for apparel retailers.
3. FindMine has had a busy quarter, launching Rent the Runway and Monica & Andy, expanding their EU operations with a new office in Paris, and introducing a new product, Visually Similar. Read more on the Paris office.
FindMine leverages AI to complete the look for apparel and other verticals.
4. Neighborhood Goods is now coast-to-coast with the opening of their 4th store in Newport Beach, CA. Additionally, Q1 marked a big chapter for the department store with their first brand acquisition, The Tot, which will help deepen their opportunity in the kids space. Read more on Neighborhood Goods growth track.
Neighborhood Goods is a new type of department store, featuring an ever-changing landscape of the world’s most thoughtful, progressive, and exciting brands.
5. Pensa Systems announced a big win with a new major partnership with Acosta, which provides planograms to hundreds of consumer brands. This partnership is going to accelerate Pensa Systems growth with shorter sales cycles and higher margin/incremental revenue, all at a larger scale. Read more about the partnership.
Pensa Systems has a syndicated data solution for grocery and drug stores to have accurate and actionable shelf visibility.
6. UR Comped has a big win to celebrate, with revenue growth nearly 4x YoY in 2022.
UR Comped is a customer acquisition engine for both land- and ocean-based casinos.
7. Clutch.Shop is coming to market in a big way, with their official site launch and first talent partnership with Real Housewives of New Jersey kicking off next week.
Clutch.Shop provides the most viewer-centric way to shop a show by integrating with show content and narrative.
8. Shelfleet had two big wins in Q1, starting with their graduation from Slauson & Co accelerator, followed by their successful MVP launch.
Shelfleet helps digitally native brands discover, connect and rent retail space in service-based businesses.
