CB Insights has named Grovara, the easy global wholesale experience, to its Retail Tech 100 ranking, which showcases the 100 most promising B2B retail tech companies in the world. Grovara’s industry-first, global B2B online marketplace for American CPG better-for-you brands exceeded gross marketplace volume (GMV) targets for seven consecutive months to close 2021 and outperformed average order value targets with recurring orders accounting for more than 76% of monthly orders.
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“This is a real honor. CB Insights is quite a benchmark, and we have worked hard to earn it”
The 2022 Retail Tech 100 cohort highlights startups reimagining the retail experience across 13 categories. This year’s winning companies are working on hyper-personalized shopping, blockchain-powered commerce, autonomous delivery, virtual shopping, and more. 19 countries are represented this year, including India, China, Mexico, Singapore, and the Netherlands, among others.
“By almost any measure, this has been a breakout year for retail tech. We’ve seen skyrocketing funding across the industry, powering companies involved in every aspect of retail from instant grocery delivery to supply chain technology,” said Brian Lee, SVP of CB Insights’ Intelligence Unit. “In 2021 alone, these 100 companies raised $13.1B in funding, an incredibly impressive feat. As the retail landscape evolves, we’re excited to see how the companies on the Retail Tech 100 continue to revolutionize how consumers shop.”
In 2021, Grovara also grew the number of brands on its marketplace by 3x and the number of retailers by 6x year-over-year. The company doubled its headcount (to 25) and is on pace to grow by another 50% by end of Q2 2022. Grovara established Latin America as a mature market for the company by opening an office and establishing a full team of sales, logistics, and marketing support. The company is successfully raising another funding round and has aggressive growth targets for GMV (4x) and brands (4x).
“This is a real honor. CB Insights is quite a benchmark, and we have worked hard to earn it,” says Grovara Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer Peter Groverman. “We are an overnight success that took 12 years, and we’ll be one of the biggest companies to ever come out of Philadelphia. We are changing global commerce, and this is only the beginning.”
Through an evidence-based approach, the CB Insights research team selected the Retail Tech 100 from a pool of over 7,000 companies, including applicants and nominees. Selection was based on factors including patent activity, business relations, investor profiles, news sentiment analysis, proprietary Mosaic Scores, market potential, competitive landscape, team strength, and tech novelty. The Mosaic Score, based on CB Insights’ algorithm, measures the overall health and growth potential of private companies to help predict a company’s momentum.
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Quick facts on the 2022 Retail Tech 100:
- Funding trends: In 2021, these 100 private companies raised $13.1B in equity funding across 109 deals, triple the amount they raised in 2020. So far in 2022, they have raised $2.3B across 15 deals (as of 3/8/22).
- Future market leaders: Nearly two-thirds of the companies on the list are early- or mid-stage companies. There are 20 early-stage companies (seed/angel and Series A) and 43 mid-stage firms (Series B or Series C) in this year’s cohort.
- Unicorns: 36 of the 100 companies (36%) are valued at or above $1B as of their latest funding rounds.
- Top investors: Salesforce Ventures is the most active investor in this year’s Retail Tech 100 companies, with investments in 10 companies across 19 deals since 2017. Tiger Global Management and Insight Partners, which have both invested in 9 companies on the list, are tied for second.
- Global reach: 40% of the 2022 Retail Tech 100 is based outside the US. After the US, the UK and India follow with 6 companies each. Overall, this year’s winners span 19 countries, including Singapore, Australia, China, and the Netherlands.