Singapore's EDBI invests US analytics player RetailNext

Previous backers of the company include US firms August Capital, StarVest Partners, Activant Capital, Commerce Ventures, Pereg Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures and American Express Ventures. EDBI is expected to offer support in the form of Asian operating experience and technological expertise.

Established in 2007, RetailNext uses internet-of-things (IoT) technology to track customer behavior for more than 300 brick-and-mortar retail outlets across 60 countries. Clients include Levi's, Ralph Lauren, Macy's, Sears and Bloomingdales. The company says its store deployments in Asia Pacific have increased 300% during the past 12 months, creating an opportunity to double its office footprint in the region.

"Their integrated full-suite platform with advanced real-time monitoring analytics solutions will help improve businesses' sales performance, productivity and operational efficiency," Swee-Yeok Chu, CEO and president of EDBI, said in a statement. "EDBI is pleased to support RetailNext's growth strategies to extend its footprint in Asia as it builds its data innovation and software development activities in Singapore."

Gartner predicts that physical stores will still be the main revenue driver for real-time data monitoring companies through to 2025. Meanwhile, SAP estimates that the global retail IoT market will be worth $326 billion by 2018.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Support services
• Technology
• Expansion
• Singapore
• professional services
• EDBI
• Growth capital
• Consumer