#grocery delivery app development company in Cambridge

[mobileappdevelopmentcompanyinuk]

Must-Have Features to Build Grocery Delivery App in 2023

Everything is almost at the tip of your finger in our contemporary world. A few phone touches are all it takes to complete tasks like ordering a cab or purchasing a stylish garment with a summery mood.

All thanks to the emerging idea of on-demand smartphone apps, which has made on-demand online services easy and simplified. There are several on-demand smartphone app categories, one specifically for grocery shopping. In fact, most people saw the invention of grocery delivery apps as nothing less than a blessing. It is because grocery app development reduces the hassle for customers waiting in lengthy lines to shop.

Why Develop a Grocery Delivery App Based On Demand?

The growing usage of grocery delivery apps is fuelled by several advantages for both the user and the aggregator, as is now necessary. The top three reasons why you must hire a grocery delivery app development company are as follows:

Convenience

Users of the app gain from having easy access to their items with only one swipe. They don’t have to rush to the market to buy products. Everything is easily reachable.

Availability

The tools are internet-based programs that show findings instantly and anywhere. As a consequence, customers can order the items anytime they choose. The ability to buy is the foundation of today’s customer market.

Wider reach

The user can access the product and relevant findings through a single app. The developer of the program can also draw users to it. They may connect with a broader audience, which boosts sales and profitability.

Apart from these, building an on-demand grocery delivery app for your business has several benefits, like increased networking, business growth, revenue, and many more.

What Features Should You Have in the Grocery Delivery App in 2023?

A fantastic online grocery shop is compact and offers straightforward sign-up and login procedures. Users only need to provide their sign-up information, which includes their email address, name, address, and phone number, to use the app. After creating an OTP (One Time Password) and confirming the account, the user may begin placing orders. Even the social login options make it simple for people to utilize the app.

Here are some of the advanced features that you must keep in mind while on-demand grocery app development:

1. Steal Deals:

This is a crucial component of the online grocery delivery app for the customer side. The customer can benefit from all the offers and discounts the online retailer makes. Users select the deal, input the promo code, apply the checkout discount, and they’re done!

2. Locate a Local Shop:

You must have tools for discovering a local retailer when you launch an online business. Customers may also read reviews of the grocery shop to discover more about things like product quality, same-day delivery, return policies, and the list. Consumers may rapidly find grocery stores based on the business’s qualities that serve all of their demands.

3. Advanced Search and Sorting:

When considering launching an internet business, focusing on custom features that make a subtle distinction is crucial. And one of them includes a powerful search and sorting tool. This enables consumers to do searches for the food and products of their choice depending on their preferences.

4. Categorization Filter:

The ability to filter categories is one of the best aspects of online grocery stores. After logging into the app, customers may quickly search for the required item using the chosen category or filter. Consumers will find it simple to select their favorite product category and begin shopping.

5. Customized Deliveries:

Offering clients the option of individualized deliveries for their grocery delivery is vital. Clients can use the scheduled order delivery service option to deliver their things promptly and fresh without compromising quality or service.

6. Payment Integration:

Give your consumers the absolute ease of paying in the manner they desire. Several payment channels can be integrated, including credit cards, mobile wallets, debit cards, UPI, and other methods. These features will undoubtedly simplify the payment procedure. But ensure that the online payment is safe, secure, and encrypted to boost customer loyalty and confidence in your online shop.

7. Order Tracking:

Adding an order monitoring system may increase the importance of this confidence factor. Via an order tracking system, a user may easily monitor the status of an order from dispatch through product delivery at their door.

8. Push Notifications:

The best strategy for forging closer bonds with your clients is to inform them about new developments, seasonal sales, and many other changes. Push notifications can also send the word regarding on-time delivery. The online store’s push notification system provides consumers timely and personalized content.

Conclusion

To establish your presence in the internet world, it is now imperative that you invest in your company and move your offline operations online. And all you want for this is to hire a top mobile app development company in Cambridge that understands your company’s specific requirements. Next, just let your customers relax and appreciate how your application looks and feels. Make absolutely sure that your marketing plan is effective and draws in clients from throughout the nation.

Article Resource - https://zimblecode.com/must-have-features-to-build-grocery-delivery-app-in-2023/

[ukdigitalcompany]

The Future of Food Industry

Boost your Food Delivery App

Undoubtedly, the food industry is one of the fastest-growing industries these days. Include the birth of delivery apps? Now, it’s faster than ever. Just a few clicks then and there, and voila! You’re good to go. The merchant, on the other hand, just needs to facilitate his or her business, payment method, and of course, a trusted food delivery app company.

UK Digital Company is a Food Delivery Apps Development Company in London and the UK, and the best Online Food Delivery Mobile Apps Development Services Company in the United Kingdom. The thing about the food delivery app is that it doesn’t just die overnight. It has been around for quite some time and is still increasing especially during a health crisis like the pandemic. It’s not just something that big restaurants or chains think about, but also by startups, small businesses, individual restaurants, and even grocery stores. Thus, we provide the best on-demand, food delivery apps development solutions in London, Bath, Oxford, Bristol, Cambridge, and Liverpool. Additionally, our developers are capable to create clone apps to help you with the best possible on-demand food delivery apps such as Zomato, UberEats, Swiggy, or GuruHub.

If you’re thinking to create your own food delivery app, it’s always wise to consider the features. Our food delivery app features consist of both customer apps and restaurant apps. The customer app is the most important part of the application for customers. The customer apps include personal profiles, search and menus, delivery time and real-time tracking, payments, ratings and reviews, and lastly, push notifications. On the other hand, a restaurant app is quite different from a customer app. It has a panel admin which is a very important feature for a business owner. This is where the merchant can look through the orders, gather statistics, and change information about the restaurant. Additionally, it also includes personal profiles, content management, order processing, and receiving payments. Get food booking apps that are branded for your company, dispatch software, and a fleet management system, and hire top restaurant and food apps developers in the UK.

Hence, food delivery apps can truly attract new customers and retain your old customers who love to do anything using their mobile phones and the internet. The very convenience of food delivery apps is what draws it ever so useful to business owners and buyers, Thus, it also gives opportunities for jobs for riders.

Learn about us and get the app now by visiting our site.

[opticien2-0]

British Land focuses on urban logistics as it recalibrates its retail strategy

Grocers and delivery apps alike are now focused on faster fulfilment. Image courtesy of Aldi/Deliveroo

British Land has bought sites that it says offer opportunities for urban logistics as it recalibrates its retail strategy.

  The commercial and retail property developer today says it has bought an underground car park in London’s financial centre, and a shopping park in Thurrock, both of which offer “opportunities for urban logistics”.

  The acquisitions come as the company focuses “more actively” on two strategy themes: retail and fulfilment, and technology campuses. It has bought underground Finsbury Square Car Park for £20m, and that its position close to its Broadgate campus offers “an excellent opportunity to create a last mile logistics hub in the City of London where supply for last mile logistics is highly constrained”.

  It has also spent £82m on the Thurrock Shopping Park, off the M25 and close to east London, where occupiers include Decathlon, Adidas, TK Maxx, Iceland Food Warehouse and Pets at Home. This, it says, has an “excellent catchment where significant population growth is expected” – and which also offers a development opportunity for urban logistics.

  The company is using the proceeds from property sales worth about £160m – including those announced today of Virgin Active Chiswick for £54.3m and the part sale of the Woodfields Retail Park, Bury for £37.5m – to finance these acquisitions as well as its investments in technology campuses including Peterhouse Technology Park in Cambridge and The Priestly Centre in Guildford. It has now committed to more than 1m sq ft of new development commitments since November 2020. Assets worth about £160m were sold or are under offer in the latest quarter of its financial year.

  Retail and fulfilment currently accounts for around a quarter of British Land’s £12.7bn portfolio, with a focus on retail parks that are “aligned to the growth of convenience, online and last mile fulfilment”. Its strategy of focusing on urban logistics primarily in London, focused on development-led opportunities, sits alongside this.

  British Land also owns and operates technology campuses at London’s Broadgate, Paddington Central and Regent’s Place.

  British Land chief executive Simon Carter says: “We are delighted with the momentum we are delivering across our business as the economy reopens. Leasing activity at our London campuses has been strong, with a significant amount of space going under offer to a broad range of occupiers in the last two months.

  “At the same time, we are continuing to deliver against our strategic priorities. We have sold off-strategy mature assets and will actively redeploy capital into opportunities that allow us to maximise our competitive advantage in asset management and development.”

British Land’s priority shift comes as a range of retailers and delivery apps from Deliveroo to Getir and Dija compete to offer ever faster fulfilment in UK cities including, preeminently, London. Grocers from Morrisons to Aldi (pictured) now use Deliveroo to get shoppers’ small grocery orders to them fast. And Ocado Zoom aims to have a network of more than a dozen micro-fulfilment sites in London but has encountered problems in finding suitable sites.

[businessfuels-blog]

Grofers Success Story and How it Achieved Success in unorganized Industry

Grofers is a Gurugram based Indian Online grocery delivery business which was founded in the year of 2013. The e-commerce start-up platform provides to its customers the facility of shopping for their daily needs products such as groceries, vegetables, bakery items, baby care items and many more. As of December 2018, the company has raised approximate $442.5 from investors that include SoftBank, Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global.

Founder - Albinder Dhindsa

Grofers was founded by IIT graduates Albinder Dhindsa and Saurabh Kumar as online platform which would facilitate the delivery of groceries for customers from neighborhood stores. During that period when Grofers was founded, there were majority of start-ups coming up in almost every city. However, with investors such as Sequoia Capital and SoftBank, Grofers managed to expand its operations and reach and went on to compete with market leaders such s Big Basket.

The Formation of Grofers – How It all Began

The founders of Grofers, Albinder Dhindsa and Saurabh Kumar met each when they both were working for the Cambridge Systematics. They both kept in touch with other after leaving their respective jobs, however they had no clear intention of pursuing any entrepreneurial ambitions.

COO - Saurabh Kumar

Going forward few years later, both Albinder & Saurabh noticed significant gap in the logistics, or the delivery industry and they sensed an opportunity which was their to grab. What both of them noticed that there were majority of transactions that took place between the consumer and merchants were still unorganized in the hyperlocal market. Therefore, both of them got together and they began to work on an idea which laid the foundation of their start-up.

Putting their plan into action, both Albinder and Saurabh launched their app in in 2013 and named it One number. The start-up was aimed at providing the facility of on-demand pickup as well as drop service from retail shops such as grocery, pharmacy, restaurants for the customers. This was primarily a one-stop solution to satisfy the local delivery needs of the customers.

However, both of them realized soon that majority of orders on their app are for groceries and for pharmacy products. Hence, they decided to change their business and took no time in doing so. It was then, they started focussing only on groceries as well as pharmacy and this was the time when the company was rebranded and given the name Grofers.

Business Funding -

Grofers managed to receive its first funding which was 500 thousand dollars in the year of 2014. It was in the year 2015, the company went on to raise $10million in its Series A funding from the firm Tiger Global Management. In the same year, Grofers managed to attract a funding of $35 Million in its Series B round of funding. Subsequently, the company continued to attract investment from various investors in the following years of its operations. Grofers biggest funding till date has come from SoftBank which was amounted $61.5 M. Given below is the list of investors that have over the years provided funding to Grofers.

Cyriac Roeding

Roeding Ventures

Tiger Global Management

SoftBank

Sequoia Capital

Grofers Business Model -

Grofers is a delivery service provider and logistics system which provides operates one B2C model. The primary function of the Grofers is to deliver grocery to its customers as well as vegetables, fruits and items of daily needs to its customers within a time of few hours. Grofers provide the delivery service by maintaining the stock for products in warehouses owned by it.

The company associates with small and large grocery stores in cities of its operations. The delivery boys then pick up the order and deliver the same to the customer to fulfill the order. To be able to place the order, you can go online and place it using Grofer’s website or the app available at major playstores.

Grofers story of success and how it grew into becoming what we see today?

Initially Grofers started as B2B (Business 2 Business) model, however it soon realized that this way it cannot capture the opportunities in the market. So, to exploit the endless possibilities, Grofers turned into hyper-local delivery network.

Now the main motive of the Grofers was to provide the solution for the customers and for that they went to nearby stores for facilitating the delivery. The revenue model which came from this arrangement was pretty sorted, they simply earned their revenue via commission that they would get from the retailers.

However, when the Grofers started they had to face certain hurdles which are more or less common in nature that start-ups end up facing which was about creating awareness and making the business popular. In the next few months of its formation, Grofers ended up adding 7 stations to its network and it was fulfilling almost 3000 orders within the week and was also able to sign new deals.

To put it Mathematically, after the three months into their starting up, they had reached to a stage where they were able to process orders worth Rs. 8 lakh. Relying on their continuous growth, Grofers came out with its mobile application to facilitate more orders.

Moreover, the company also went on to increase the strength of its employees to around 700 in its offices spread across different cities. During the initial few years, what was even more interesting to know that the online e-commerce platform did not run any advertising campaign to promote its activities and business.

Competition

The online basic need advertise has developed big time in India since it was conceived. With new player signifying the market and huge numbers of the enormous disconnected general store going on the web everybody needs to keep up their amusement to hold the current clients and to pull in new ones. One of the enormous name in online basic need market and one of the greatest contenders for Grofers is BigBasket. Grofers right presently is working in 17 urban communities which is one not exactly BigBasket propelled in 2011 which is two years before Grofers. Grofers has likewise been speculators most loved and raised around 150 million dollars in most recent 4 years.

Other Key players in the market are Pepper Tap and Zopnow and there is new enormous participant Amazon. Amazon is the greatest name in web-based business and has come to e-basic supply advertise. The organization began its activity in December 2016 in spite of the fact that we don't have any official information the organization had the capacity to pull in numerous clients because of its name in the E-business showcase.

Grofers managed to succeed with D-Mart model for online Groceries

Grofers changed its estimating methodology a year ago to target lower middle class and working-class customers, and the outcome is a 300% development in income and decreased misfortunes.

About a year back, online goods start-up Grofers changed its plan of action to reproduce India's most productive and quickest developing extensive current retailer D-Mart. The Gurugram-based start-up, which professes to have value investment funds at standard with D-Mart, decreased its loaded things and now focusses around the lower white-collar class and working-class shoppers. The outcome has been a 300% development in top line and decreased misfortunes, said Albinder Dhindsa, fellow benefactor and CEO, Grofers in a meeting to Mint.

Grofers finished FY18 with sales incomes of Rs700 crore, up from Rs250 crore a year back. Losses have continued as before at Rs 200 crore for both financial years 2017 and 2018.

Expected Growth in Future

Grofers hopes to end FY19 with income of Rs2,200 crore. It left March with month to month sales of Rs120 crore, up from Rs26 crore a year back. BigBasket, then again, has sales figures of Rs 200 crore consistently and hopes to end FY19 with sales with Rs. 500 crore a month. So, the target for Grofers is set and it is looking forward to clock highest sales figures that it thinks possible.

Achievements

In 2014, Grofers was recognized as one of     the top 10 start-up’s in Delhi by YourStory.com

in 2014, IndianWeb2.com listed Grofers amongst the top 10     promising Gurgaon-based start-ups.

Grofers won the 'Comeback Kid' awards in ET     Startup Awards 2018

Thus, we can conclude that with its     hard-work and dedication Grofers picked up growth in no time and today it     is the second largest grocery delivery platform in India after BigBasket.

[djgblogger-blog]

Robotics fundings, acquisitions and IPOs: May 2018

http://bit.ly/2xSH1lk

Twenty-seven startups were funded in May for a total of $2.5 billion.

The top five were:

Cruise Holdings announced a two-phase funding by SoftBank Vision Fund totaling $2.25 billion. $900 million will be funded right away. Future funding of $1.35 billion is contingent on two things: regulatory approval and at the time when Cruise AVs are ready for commercial deployment. At that time GM will also invest another $1.1 billion thereby providing sufficient capital to reach commercialization beginning in 2019.

UBTech Robotics, the Chinese toy robot builder, raised $820 million to help them develop adult-sized robots for commercial applications.

Ocado, the UK online grocer, raised $247 million by selling a 5% stake to US grocer Kroger.

Roadstar AI, another Chinese startup, raised $128 million for their radars and sensors for self-driving vehicles.

SoundHound, a Silicon Valley developer of voice-enabled AI for consumer robots and self-driving vehicles, raised $100 million.

This month’s $2.5 billion in fundings doubles the January thru April total of $2.5 billion. Thus a YTD of $5 billion!

Four acquisitions occurred in May. The most notable was SPX Corp., the large inspection equipment components manufacturer, which acquired CUES, a Florida robotic pipeline video inspection and rehab company, for $189 million.

Fundings

Cruise Holdings announced a two-phase funding by SoftBank Vision Fund totaling $2.25 billion. $900 million will be funded right away. Future funding of $1.35 billion is contingent on two things: regulatory approval and at the time when Cruise AVs are ready for commercial deployment. At that time GM will also invest another $1.1 billion to provide the combined capital to reach commercialization beginning in 2019. As a result of this two-pronged funding, SoftBank Vision Fund will end up owning a 19.6% equity stake in GM Cruise.

Placing the roof instruments. Look at all those LiDARs!

Functions of new UBTech humanoid robots.

UBTech Robotics, the Chinese toy robot builder that’s been featured in the Guiness Book of Records for the most simultaneous dancing robots, raised $820 million in a Series C funding round led by Tencent Holdings with participation from Green Pine Capital, Haier Group, Minsheng Securities, CDH Investments and Telstra. The new investment brings UBTech’s valuation to approximately $5 billion. UBTech said the money would be used to develop adult-sized humanoid robots and will focus particularly on the R&D of servo systems, movement control algorithms for walking, and computer vision.

Ocado, the UK leader in home-delivered groceries using robot-run distribution centers, which raised ~$192.5 million (in Feb) by selling shares of it’s publicly traded stock (LON:OCDO), has established a licensing deal with US grocery chain Kroger whereby Kroger will take a 5% stake in Ocado – an investment valued at ~$247.5 million and Ocado will help Kroger set up systems to help it manage online ordering, fulfillment and delivery operations. Ocado invested $57.5 million on technology last year, up from $46 million the previous year. The company is developing proprietary technology and has also increased its tech staff to 1,100.  The company uses about 500 robots interacting with each other on a grid which have allowed it to process more than 20,000 orders.

Roadstar.AI, a Chinese self-driving startup integrating multiple sensors and LiDARs, cameras, radars, GPS and IMU to provide time and spatial synchronization for self-driving vehicles, raised $128 million in a series A round led by Wu Capital and Shenzhen Capital Group and also Yunqi Partners, CMBI International Capital Corporation Ltd and Vision Capital.

SoundHound, a Silicon Valley developer of voice-enabled AI for consumer robots and self-driving vehicles, raised $100 million in a round full of strategic partners: Tencent, Midea, Hyundai, Daimler and France Telecom (Orange).

Rapid Micro Biosystems, a Mass-based lab sciences testing equipment provider, raised $60 million in a venture round led by Bain Capital and Xeraya Capital

Saildrone, an Alameda, CA autonomous marine surface vehicle collecting scientific data, raised $60 million in a Series B funding led by Horizons Ventures and also Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund, Lux Capital, Social Capital, and The Schmidt Family Foundation.

Hesai Photonics Technology, a Chinese laser sensor maker for self-driving vehicles, raised $39 million in a Series B round led by Lightspeed and Baidu. Hesai also makes a natural gas safety drone which can sense leaks in hi-rise buildings.

Medical Microinstruments, an Italian maker of a robotic platform for microsurgery, raised $24.5 million in a Series A round led by Andera Partners with participation from Panakes Partners and Fountain Healthcare, returning seed investor Sambatech, and industry veterans Gus Castello, former Senior Vice President of Product Operations for Intuitive Surgical Inc., and John Engels, founder of AxoGen, Inc.

Cowa Robot, the Chinese follow-me suitcase startup, raised $21.2 million in a Series B round jointly led by SoftBank China Venture Capital and China Creation Ventures with additional participation from Infore Capital, China Minsheng Investment Group.

Soft Robotics, a Cambridge, MA-based startup which designs and builds soft robotic gripping systems, raised $20 million in a round led by Hyperplane Venture Capital and including Scale Venture Partners, Calibrate Ventures, Honeywell Ventures, Tekfen Ventures, Yamaha Motor, Material Impact, ABB Technology Ventures, Taylor Farms Ventures and Haiyin Capital.

Trio.AI, a Beijing startup developing a dialogue engine for IoT and robotics, raised $17 million in a Series B round led by HanFor, China Minsheng Investment Group, Foxconn Technology Group and Xiamen Torch Group.

Superpedestrian, the Boston-based developer of the Copenhagen Wheel to enhance bicycles by amplifying pedal power by up to 10X, raised $16.5 million in a Series B round from Extol Capital LLC, Spark Capital and General Catalyst. This brings Superpedestrian’s total investment to ~$44 million.

Fictiv, a San Francisco-based developer of a virtual manufacturing platform used by Silicon Valley autonomous vehicles and medical robotics providers, raised $15 million in a Series B funding from Accel, Intel Capital, FJ Labs, Tandon Group, Stanford-StartX Fund, and Bill Gates.

Arevo Labs, a Silicon Valley provider of carbon fiber 3D printing technology, raised $12.5 million in Series B funding led by Asahi Glass and joined by Sumitomo Corporation of Americas, Leslie Ventures and Khosla Ventures.

Resson, a Canadian ag analytics provider, raised $10.9 million in a Series C round led by Mahindra & Mahindra with existing partners McCain Foods, Monsanto Growth Ventures, Build Ventures, Rho Canada, BDC Capital, East Valley Ventures and the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation.

EcoRobotix, the Swiss ag-tech startup developing a mobile weeding robot, raised $10.7 million in a Series B funding round led by BASF Venture Capital with participation by Business Angels Swiss, 4FO Ventures, Investiere, and CapAgro.

Algolux, a Canadian provider of machine-learning stacks for autonomous vision and imaging, raised $10 million in Series A funding. General Motors Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Drive Capital, Intact Ventures, and Real Ventures.

ForwardX, a Chinese follow-me suitcase developer, raised $10 million in a Series A round led by CDH Investments and Eastern Bell Venture Capital

Metawave, a Silicon Valley developer of beam steering radars for autonomous vehicle apps, raised $10 million in funding. Investors include DENSO, Toyota AI Ventures, Hyundai Motor Company, Asahi Glass, Motus Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Autotech Ventures, Bold Capital, SAIC Capital, Western Technology Investment (WTI), and Alrai Capital.

Verifly Holdings, a U.K.-based manufacturer of drone control systems and on-demand insurance sales agency, raised $7 million in funding. Investors include Slow Ventures, OpenOcean, and the founders of Kayak and HotelTonight.

Hummingbird Technologies, a UK-based drone, aerial and satellite sensing ag startup, raised $4.1 million in a Series A funding round from The European Space Agency, Sir James Dyson, Newable Private Investing and Velcourt, the UK’s largest commercial farming operation.

Plus One Robotics, a Texas vision and controls systems developer for robotic automation, raised $2.35 million (in 2017) in a seed round led by Schematic Ventures and joined by Lerer Hippeau, FF Venture Capital, First Star and Dynamo.

SkySquirrel Technologies (which recently merged into VineView), a Canadian ag drone and analytics provider for the wine industry, raised $2.3 million (in January) from an Ontario-based private investor and Innovacorp.

Kewazo, a German robotic construction equipment startup, raised $1.2 million in a seed round led by MIG Fonds 14 and Alfred Bauer.

C2RO Robotics, a Canadian startup enabling mapping, self-localization, and autonomous path planning in real-time with cloud-based SLAM, has raised $1.1 million in a seed round led by Chicago-based Harbor Street Ventures, with the participation of Fonds InnovExport, TandemLaunch Ventures and several angel investors in Canada, the U.S. and Europe.

Beijing Tiddler (AI Nemo), a Chinese consumer products and home companion robot developer, raised an undisclosed amount in a Series C round led by Baidu with participation from Foxconn.

Acquisitions

CUES, a 50-year old, 365-person Florida robotic video pipeline inspection and rehab company, was acquired by SPX Corp, an inspection equipment components manufacturer, for $189 million.

SkySquirrel Technologies, a Canadian ag-industry startup, has merged into VineView, Scientific Aerial Imaging, a California ag startup which will now be headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia. SkySquirrel’s founder and CEO will remain CEO of the new combined company.

Mavrx, a failing San Francisco-based aerial imagery platform startup, was acquired for an undisclosed amount by Israeli ag aerial imagery provider Taranis. Mavrx, which raised $12.5 million since 2012, ran into some financial and operational difficulty and was not able to service its clients for the upcoming growing season despite providing a popular product with a 90% customer renewal rate.

Jodone, a Boston robotics-related software and AI startup, was acquired by RightHand Robotics for an undisclosed amount.

IPOs

None

Failures

Ticktock AI — tried lots of approaches but never solved any problems that people wanted solved — good review here.

An Aside:

It seems like seed rounds are getting bigger and less frequent while Series A rounds are happening later in the development cycle. So says Bessemer Venture partner Amit Karp in a recent post on Medium.

“Most early stage startups we meet these days attempt to raise a $2M-$4M seed investment with some seed rounds expanding even further. These larger seed rounds are often led by a new pool of dedicated seed funds. In addition, the larger funds sometimes also participate in these early rounds, which results in even larger seed rounds (and often higher valuations). Angel investors are often added into the mix to bring more credibility and help with their experience in the early stages of the startup, but it’s a ‘professional’ seed investor who often leads the seed round.”

According to Karp there are several implications to these new large seed rounds:

Series-A financing is pushed later, and Series-A investors now expect to see much more business traction before they commit.

Series-A rounds have also become larger and are now often north of $8M. This reduces the amount of Series-A investors as it requires a larger fund to invest in that stage.

Securing a Series-A investment is more difficult than it used to be since there are fewer funds and the startup needs to demonstrate more business traction.

Lastly, and likely most important, is that the winners are separated from the losers earlier than ever. It is very difficult for a startup which raised a $500K seed round to compete with another startup that raised $4M at the same stage. A similar phenomena to the massive SoftBank fundings.

Reviewing The Robot Report’s Y-T-D 2018 seed rounds, there were 13 fundings averaging $3.8 million each thus confirming Karp’s thesis from our smaller sample of robotics-related fundings.

May: $1.2M and $1.1M

April: $3M

March: $10M, $6M, $2M and $1.1M

February: $11.5M, $5.5M and $2M

January: $3M, $2.8M and $750k

[opticien2-0]

Social dining and intelligent addressing solutions win out at JLAB 2017

John Lewis [IRDX RJLW] and sister company Waitrose [IRDX RWAI] are looking to offer new kinds of customer dining experiences and to improve their first-time delivery success rate using technology developed by the two start-up winners of JLAB 2017.

The retailer, a Elite trader in IRUK Top500 research has invested in both social hub WeFiFo, which connects paying diners with home cooks, supper club hosts and professional chefs, and intelligent addressing technology developer Exaactly.

Waitrose ran two trials using Exaactly’s solution, which enables customers to provide information about how to find their address and where to leave a parcel if they’re out. John Lewis is to run another as it explores the ability of the technology to help ensure first-time deliveries.

Meanwhile, both Waitrose and John Lewis are looking into opportunities to host dining experiences and bespoke events using the WeFiFo technology.

John Lewis’ £100,000 investment into the two companies will be matched by its JLAB partner L Marks.

Seni Glaister, chief executive and co-founder of WeFiFo said: “We used our time with JLAB to cement strong foundations and we will now build on these as we enlist the help of the Partnership in our search for and celebration of the country’s most talented home cooks.”

Bea Warner, co-founder and CEO of Exaactly said: “JLAB has given us a peek behind the curtain of two of the country’s biggest retailers and an invaluable insight into how they handle delivery. The opportunity to run two pilots across the Partnership has equipped us with the product know-how we needed to make that final mile of delivery even more straightforward for consumers and retailers. The investment signifies a big step for our business as we prepare for a full launch to market in early January 2018.”

The two winners were among five start-ups that won a 12 week JLAB place. The others were smart grocery shopping app Mucho, which provides personalised recipes and enables customers order the ingredients they need; Journifi which provides customers with personalised in-store experiences such as tailored personal shopping sessions based on their online behaviour and tastes, and which is continuing to work with the John Lewis Partnership’s group customer insight team. Data analytics from BB1 uses customer behaviour to optimise business working practices. It modelled the customer flow in and around Waitrose’s Cambridge branch and changes over a day, over a year and if a competitor opens.

Paul Coby, CIO at the John Lewis Partnership [IRDX RJLP], said: “All our finalists have benefitted greatly from unprecedented access to two of the UK’s leading retailers. The wider scope of JLAB this year has allowed us to bring together some of the most exciting emerging technology, not just in retail but across grocery too. It’s never been more important for the John Lewis Partnership to nurture innovation both inside and outside our business and we are looking forward to progressing this talent.”

Image caption: The JLAB finalists (excluding WeFiFo)

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