Vision Fund, BlackRock lead Series D for Singapore's Trax
Trax, a Singapore-headquartered start-up that uses computer vision technology to help retailers link sales to in-store and on-shelf positioning, has secured $640 million in Series E funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and BlackRock.
Other new investors included Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System (OMERS) and Innovation Growth Ventures, which is managed by Sony Innovation Fund and Daiwa Capital Holdings. Trax’s previous two rounds saw strong Chinese participation, with Hopu Investments leading a $100 million Series D in 2019 and Boyu Capital doing the same on a $125 million Series C in 2018.
The Trax system begins with sales reps using their smart phones to photograph store shelves and then uploading the images to a cloud-based platform. Trax’s image recognition and computer vision algorithms identify products – and how they are presented – and turn the data into actionable information. Within minutes, this information is relayed to users, enabling them to assess whether a certain product would sell better if, for example, it was moved three shelves over.
In addition to providing real-time reports on changes to be made to product positioning in stores, the company delivers retail performance analysis based on shelf and point-of-sale data. Recent innovations include a suite of autonomous shelf monitoring solutions and an artificial intelligence-driven, enterprise-level dynamic merchandising service, and an on-demand crowd marketplace.
The overriding goal is to enable decision-making that accelerates growth, reduces costs, and drives awareness and purchase intent. Trax has hubs in the US and Israel as well as Singapore, and it serves customers in more than 90 countries. The company claims many of the world’s top consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies and retailers as customers.
“We are witnessing the retail industry adopt digital technologies at an unprecedented pace and scale,” said Joel Bar-El, executive chairman and co-founder of Trax, in a statement. “Our many solutions address the complex needs of CPG brands and retailers as they rapidly adjust to shifts in consumer behavior. This funding puts Trax confidently at the forefront of the future of retail, where the physical and digital combine in new ways to bring meaningful experiences to shoppers.”
Founded in 2010, the company received $15 million from Singapore-based hedge fund Broad Peak in 2014 and a further $50 million in 2016. A year later, it raised rounds of $19.5 million and $64 million, led by Investec Bank and Warburg Pincus, respectively. Boyu was joined by UK media company DC Thomson in the 2018 round, which also saw several earlier investors make realizations.
J.P. Morgan acted as a placement for Trax’s Series E.
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