Daily Consumer #18 - The Next Step of the Restaurant Industry’s “Ecommerce Moment”
Plus brands are flooding into the metaverse.
My Work
The Next Step of the Restaurant Industry’s “Ecommerce Moment”
I'm excited to announce my investment in Pepper, the ecommerce platform for food suppliers and restaurants.
The food industry, over $6.2T in the US, is in the midst of a dramatic shift. Consumers now spend more on food from restaurants than grocery stores (source), a trend that we expect to continue. In addition, consumers are increasingly accessing food from restaurants via delivery and pickup apps, which we at Index see as the beginning of the restaurant industry’s “ecommerce moment.”
While the frontend of the restaurant is benefiting from technology, the backend has not received the same attention. Restaurant operators still rely on manual workflows to run their business, with the biggest cost center being inventory purchasing (the COGS line item on a P&L).
Pepper is a platform that digitizes how restaurants interface with their inventory suppliers, like providers of ingredients, utensils, and packaging. Instead of having to call a distributor or wait for a rep to walk in the door with a clipboard, Pepper now enables restaurants to discover, purchase, and reorder inventory via their smartphone or computer.
Pepper has built a software and payments platform that is adopted by suppliers directly. Suppliers onboard onto the platform and enable a Shopify-like storefront. They then share access to this storefront with their restaurant customers who can discover items to purchase and pay digitally.
The value is significant to all users of the platform. Suppliers are able to spend less time and money to win and grow business from restaurants. Restaurants save time by ordering and paying for inventory digitally and have more insight into how much their inventory will cost.
Bowie, Chetan, Ivana and the rest of the Pepper team live and breathe restaurants and are the type of people we want to be in business with. Bowie and Chetan were members of the founding team at Uber Eats within the broader Uber organization and played large roles in scaling the service. The team is transparent, humble, hardworking, and fosters tremendous loyalty from their peers and direct reports, which we heard over and over again when checking references. Demand for Pepper has also never been more evident with dozens of suppliers now onboarded onto the platform and thousands of end restaurants actively ordering through it.
We feel it's a matter of time before Pepper becomes ubiquitous amongst food suppliers and restaurants. We’re excited to demonstrate this conviction by announcing the company's $16M Series A financing. Index led the investment round with participation from our friends at Greylock, Imaginary Ventures, BoxGroup, and Moving Capital. Onwards team!
Community
I’m advising a new startup in the ecommerce space that is looking to hire some founding engineers. A truly fantastic founder and idea in case you know of someone.
News
Advertising.
TikTok is expanding access to its Creator Marketplace. Now, TikTok creators with at least 10K followers will be able to sign up for the TikTok Creator Marketplace to collaborate with brands on various opportunities.”
Facebook is banning ad targeting against sensitive attributes like religious or political affiliation.
B2B Commerce.
Fast Company profiles Faire, the $12B pioneer in bringing wholesale commerce online. “One of the main things that small retailers want to know is, when my customers come in here, have they seen this before? Can they easily find this online, elsewhere? And so that’s what leads them to seek out products that aren’t available on Amazon, aren’t available on Walmart.”
Reliance Jio is aiming to be the sole provider of inventory to India’s millions of mom and pop retail stores which represent 80% of total retail spend. Is upsetting existing product distributors in the process.
BFCM.
Salesforce analyzes the data from their commerce platform. TLDR: online sales were up slightly, prices were higher, discounting was down, inventory was low, and BNPL grew 29% to drive 8% of total orders. “Overall, 2021 global online sales hit an all-time high of $275B, up 2% compared to 2020, and $62B in the U.S., up 4% compared to 2020.”
Shopify recorded $2.9B of GMV on Black Friday, up 21% YoY. “New York, London and Los Angeles were among the top-selling cities, the company said, while apparel and accessories was the top-selling product category.”
A recap of Black Friday behavior based on what apps were downloaded on phones that day.
BNPL.
PayPal partners with Wix to enable PayPal Pay in 4 installment financing for merchants.
PayPal sees record BNPL usage on Black Friday. “Our volume was up almost 400% YoY.”
Klarna, a leading BNPL player, is launching “Pay Now” to move into providing full upfront payments for its merchants. Is also launching Klarna Card in the US which will allow users to pay for any transaction with the card in 4 installments.
Afterpay is launching BNPL for recurring purchases in partnership with Fabletics, IPSY, BoxyCharm, and Savage X Fenty.
Mastercard launches Installments, a BNPL service that can be used at checkout, in-store, or online. Is partnering with American Airlines, CSI, Fiserv and TSYS to scale the service.
Brand Rebound. A profile of Abercrombie’s recovery. “Abercrombie’s brand evolution mirrors the evolving sensibilities of the customers it hopes to dress. Inaccessibility is out; inclusivity is in.”
Content + Commerce.
Bravo launches a live shopping experience to sell fruniture, home decor, apparel, and athleticwear. Is a 3D experience that has rooms dedicated to various network series like Below Deck, Southern Charm, Summer House and The Real Housewives franchise. Is powered by the virtual commerce technology company Obsess AR.
Universal Music Group and Authentic Brands Group partner to acquire and grow artist product brands.
Credit Card Benefits. Chase cardholders will get $10 in monthly GoPuff credit as a result of a partnership between the two companies.
Crypto. MercadoLibre, the Amazon-like giant in Latam, allows customers to pay with bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies by partnering with Paxos.
DTC Brands. A summary of all the brand trying to move away from wholesale to DTC including Nike, Adidas, Crocs, Hoka, Wilson, Under Armour, and others.
Earnings Spotlight. Target saw demand for same-day services grow by nearly $2B over the last 2 years as customers continue to blend in-person and online shopping experiences. Full earnings recap here.
Fitness. Peloton launches a strength-focused product called Peloton Guide. Is a motion-tracking camera that can give feedback on form during strength workouts.
Food and Beverage. The founders of Oatly and Fiji Water are building a new beverage brand called Good Idea. Is a functional sparkling water meant to be consumed after a meal to reduce blood sugar levels.
Gaming Commerce / Metaverse.
Jefferies, an investment bank, publishes a deep profile on what the metaverse actually is and the emerging players.
Adidas collaborates with 4 partners, including Bored Ape Yacht Club, Pixel Vault’s Punks Comic, and Gmoney as part of its metaverse exploration. Comes on the back of their launch of a Proof of Attendance token that was offered to their loyal users. Adidas is also rumored to be partnering with The Sandbox, a crypto application where users can buy and build on virtual land. Still hard for me to understand all of this.
WWD sees the metaverse as being the “new mall”. “We’re quickly moving toward online store environments that will feel even more sensorially rich and immersive than physical store environments and that can be personalized for shoppers in real time.”
Brands are flooding into Roblox, Second Life, Fortnite, and other virtual world platforms to begin to understand it and establish a presence. “Facebook saying, ‘We’re going to put $10 billion into this,’ I think provides a lot of incremental confidence that this would be a worthwhile experiment.”
Balenciaga is launching a Metaverse business unit. “Right now the climax of interaction with a luxury brand is that you click like, or comment or buy something. I think we can get to a next level.”
Gifting. Shopify releases a gifting capability in their Shop app.
Grocery. Amazon plans to open 260 grocery stores in the UK. Still an open question how much Amazon wants to push into offline stores globally.
Influencer Driven Commerce.
DJ Khaled launches a delivery-only chicken wing restaurant in 30 cities called Another Wing. Partnered with cloud kitchen operator Reef to do so.
Seth Rogan launches Houseplant, a cannabis accessories brand, on Shopify.
Live Shopping.
Morning Brew profiles Supergreat, an emerging player in beauty live shopping. “Brand-hosted sales events rack up roughly 600–700 concurrent viewers, according to the beauty app, and the highest-trafficking stream counted 1,000+ viewers.”
Twitter hosted its first shopping livestream on 11/28 in collaboration with Walmart.
NBCUniversal is launching live shopping shows on Instagram and other platforms.
A profile of Viya, the “queen of live-streaming” in China who once sold $400M of goods in just 1 day on Taobao.
Logistics.
Amazon claims that it will ship more packages than UPS or FedEx by early 2022.
Walmart claims that their recently launched fulfillment service, similar to Fulfilled by Amazon, already fulfills 25% of Walmart’s marketplace sales.
Shipbob, an ecommerce fulfillment service leveraging technology, expands to Europe where it will open 20 warehouses.
Doordash launches Doordash Labs to develop robotic automation technology to automate the processes that go into a delivery.
Walmart partners with Zipline to launch drone delivery in Arkansas.
Macro Trends.
Consumer demand continues to rebound. Supply chain hasn’t improved. Labor is still tight. Crypto is en vogue. Prices are climbing but that isn’t impacting spend yet. Ecommerce is seeing a headwind as consumers return to stores. “As the world begins to reopen, shoppers are returning to stores. Brick and mortar aren’t dead. Instead, omni -channel is in full force. Searches for open now near me are four times globally versus last year." -Alphabet SVP & CBO Phillip Schindler
Bridgewater shares data that suggests we are experiencing a demand shock, not a supply shock, that is causing supply chain issues.
Marketplaces. Shopify is testing a product search feature in its Shop app that would allow shoppers to search from items across many Shopify stores. Despite Shopify’s denial that they will build a marketplace, it feels like too compelling an opportunity to ignore.
NFTs. A timeline of all the NFT experiments being done by brands like Budweiser, Adidas, and many others. Brands want to have a presence in the virtual world too.
Partnerships. Nordstrom partners with Fanatics to offer Fanatics sports merchandise on their online store.
Payments. WhatsApp wins approval to scale its payments offering to 40M users in India.
Resale. 1stdibs launches auctions on its luxury furniture resale marketplace. “This allows buyer and seller to find the efficient market clearing price for a given piece. For a marketplace of one-of-a-kind pieces, it’s a logical extension of the private negotiation model we already supported.”
Retention Marketing. Klaviyo, the popular email marketing platform for brands, claims they drove $1.5B of attributed GMV between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday.
Retail Media.
Macy’s wants to build an advertising business across its digital and offline properties. Have started this ad network that is already generated tens of millions in revenue. More here.
Tesco, the large grocery chain in the UK, is also ramping its ad efforts. “This closed loop platform will provide brands and their agencies with the right insight to drive more interactive, two-way relationships with customers, helping brands build stronger connections with their customer base and build loyalty for both suppliers and Tesco.”
Same Day Delivery.
Uber launches Uber One, a membership that unites rides, delivery, and groceries. Costs $9.99 per month and includes guaranteed pricing plus 5% discounts, $0 delivery fee for eligible orders, priority service with top drivers, $5 credit if deliveries miss the Latest Arrival estimate, and additional perks.
Instacart’s plans to launch a 15-minute delivery service leak. Would be a major business model transformation if true.
Bloomberg profiles GoPuff, a leading 15-minute delivery service in the US that acquired Bevmo. GoPuff meanwhile formally announces its expansion to the UK.
Getir acquires Weezy, a UK-based 15-minute delivery service.
1520, a 15-minute delivery startup, shuts down after running out of cash.
Applebees, Olive Garden, IHOP, and other restaurants are pausing online same-day delivery orders as they struggle with quickly rebounding foot traffic and labor issues.
Singles Day. Alibaba and JD.com set new sales records on China’s Singles Day, which is the largest shopping event in the world. Alibaba saw $85B GMV(+8% YoY) over the 11 day period while JD saw $55B (+28% YoY). Luxury and pet products were particularly popular.
Social Commerce.
A profile of Facily, a group buying platform in Brazil that is growing quickly and bears a lot of resemblance to Pinduoduo. “Based on the company’s projections for sales volume in the first quarter of next year, its annual transactions for 2022 could surpass $1B.”
Kuaishou, another TikTok-like service in China, now generates roughly 10% of their $3.2B quarterly revenue from live shopping.
Social Media.
Research on how teens think about Facebook and other major social platforms. TLDR: The Facebook Blue app has little value to young users.
Bytedance, the parent company of TikTok, is expected to achieve $63B revenue in 2021, up 60% YoY. “The majority of ByteDance’s revenue comes from ad sales on Douyin—the Chinese equivalent of TikTok—and the Toutiao news app.”
Sustainability / Climate.
Afterpay partners with Patch, a marketplace for carbon offset credit, to let US Afterpay users opt into offsetting the emissions of their purchase.
L’Oreal partners with BreezoMeter, a leading provider of air quality data, to develop an exclusive beauty platform that uncovers how the environment affects skin aging.
Toys. A profile of Al Kahn, the man who popularized Pokemon, Yugioh!, Cabbage Patch Kids, and other toy brands in the US.
Trust and Safety. Wired profiles Amazon’s internal data privacy letdowns. For example, customer support agents were able to snoop on what celebrities were buying.
TV Marketing. Roku predicts 100% of TV content will be streamed by 2030.
VR. Facebook sold 10M Quest 2 headsets in their first year on the market.
Funding and Exits
Brands
Brand Rollups.
Berlin Brands Group raises $100M from Ardian at a $1.2B valuation to acquire ecommerce brands operating on Amazon and other marketplaces. “Says it’s acquired 42 brands in the last year and turned over $377M in 2020.”
Forest raises $8M from UTEC and Nordstar to acquire Japanese ecommerce brands with a focus on sustainable, high-quality products that embrace the spirit of Japan. Is hoping to acquire 300 brands.
Markai raises $4M from Pear VC and Sea Group for its ecommerce brand aggregator that aims to buy out Chinese brands seeking global consumers.
Direct to Manufacturer. Quince raises $50M from Insight Partners for its brand that works directly with manufacturers to create quality apparel and home products at low prices. “Grew 15x YoY and reached $100M annual run rate.”
Fashion.
Authentic Brands Group shelves its IPO and raises capital from CVC Capital and others. Owns brands like Brooks Brothers and retailers like Forever 21 and Aeropostale.
Vollebak raises $10M from Venrex for its futuristic clothing brand.
Sean Diddy Combs bids $3.3M to acquire Sean Jean, the bankrupt fashion brand he started.
Marks & Spencer, a UK-based retailer, acquires a 25% stake in Nobody’s Child, a womenswear brand.
Food and Beverage.
Monster Beverages is exploring a merger with Constellation Brands which could bring the two $40B+ companies together.
Impossible Foods raises $500M from Mirae for its plant-based meat products. “Says it is now the fastest-growing plant-based meat company in retail. Products are currently available in about 22K grocery stores and 40K restaurants worldwide.”
New Culture raises $25M from Ahren Innovation Capital for its plant-based cheese, made from a proprietary animal-free casein, that aims to be indistinguishable in taste, texture, etc.
Mosaic Foods raises $6M from Gather Ventures for its plant-based frozen meals. “2 years after launching, the company has gone from 6 to 50 products and grown 15x in revenue.”
Juicy Marbles raises $4.5M from World Fund for its plant-based steak products, which are made from soy largely.
Sundial Foods raises $4M from Nestle, Food Labs, and others for its vegan chicken wings product that will be available in US restaurants in 2022.
Perfeggt raises $2.8M from EVIG Group and others for its egg alternative product made from fava beans. Will launch its product in 3 European countries in 2022.
Home.
Ember raises $23M from Foxconn subsidiary GOLDTek for its smart mugs.
Comvest Partners invests in Renovation Homes, a portofolio of home improvement brands across kitchen, bath, hearth, and patio.
Item Tracker. Life360 acquires Tile, a brand of connected item trackers, for $205M.
Mattresses. Durational Capital acquires Casper, a DTC matress brand, for $270M.
Micromobility.
Pierer Mobility acquires Felt Bicycles, a maker of road and gravel bikes, triathlon bikes, and hybrid bikes.
Porsche acquires Greyp, an ebike manufacturer.
Outdoor. Helen of Troy acquires Osprey Packs, a backpack brand that will generate $160M revenue in 2021, for $414M.
Personal Care.
Skincare.
Droplette raises $15M from Victress Capital and Spark Capital for its skincare system featuring an electromechanical medical device that dispenses skincare in mist format for deeper absorption.
Apothekary raises $3.5M from its founder for its plant-based skincare and pharmaceutical-alternative products.
Galderma acquires Alastin, a maker of specialist anti-aging skincare products.
Uniforms. Sentinel Capital Partners invests in RefrigiWear, a leading provider of industrial workwear for subzero environments. The Figs equivalent for people who work in very cold environments?
Wellness. Hyperice raises capital from athletes including Rory McIlroy, Daniel Ricciardo, Connor McDavid, Klay Thompson, and Jayson Tatum who will also serve as brand ambassadors for the company’s wellness products including its massage gun.
Marketplaces
Art. Singulart raises $68M from Vitruvian Partners for its art marketplace connecting 10K artists with 20K+ collectors globally.
B2B Commerce.
Reibus raises $75M from Softbank at a $750M valuation for its B2B marketplace for metals. “Surpassed an annual revenue run-rate of $100M. Aims to correct imbalances in the global supply chain for steel and aluminum by connecting buyers and sellers, as well as offering delivery and financing options. Transactions typically range from $100K to $3M and the company can offer payment terms from 30 to 90 days.”
Ula raises $23M from Tiger Global and Flipkart founder Binny Bansal for its marketplace that connects 70K stores in Indonesia with 6K products.
Meru raises $15M from Valor Capital and EMLES Ventures for its B2B marketplace allow Mexico-based small retailers to stock up inventory from suppliers more simply.
Emerge Commerce acquires WholesalePet.com, a marketplace connecting 8K retailers with 400+ pet product vendors, for $25M.
Sabi raises $6M from CRE Venture Capital for its Africa-focused B2B marketplace that allows 175K CPG suppliers and retailers to transact.
Beauty. Farfetch is rumored to be exploring an acquisition of Violet Grey, a prestige beauty marketplace.
Cloud Kitchens. EatClub raises $40M from Tiger Global for its vertically-integrated cloud kitchens business in India that operates 8 brands out of 150+ kitchens in 5 cities.
Grocery Delivery.
Yababa raises $15M from Creandum and Project A for its same-day grocery delivery business that focuses on ethnic communities living in cities across Europe.
Umamicart raises $6M from M13 and FJ Labs for its online Asian grocery delivery service offering both a curated and comprehensive selection of Asian products. “US retail sales of ethnic foods was $12.5B in 2018, up from $11B in 2013.”
Influencer Marketing.
LTK raises $300M from Softbank at a $2B valuation for its marketplace that allows 150K vetted social media influencers to make their posts shoppable. “Generates more than $3B in annual sales for brands, about 10-25% of which goes to the influencers who spur those sales through the products they promote.”
Outfit raises $2M from Jason Calacanis and KM Capital for its marketplace connecting brands with influencers to promote products both digitally and offline.
International Ecommerce. Emart acquires 80% of Ebay Korea for $3B.
Micromobility. Upway raises $5.7M from Sequoia and GFC for its marketplace for used electric bikes. “Last year, 500K electric bikes were sold in France. There’s friction when you buy a second-hand electric bike as you don’t know if the motor still works fine and you’re not sure if you’ll have to replace the battery when you get it.”
Same-Day Delivery.
Jokr raises $260M from Tiger Global, Balderton, GGV Capital and Activant Capital at a $1.2B for its 15-minute grocery delivery service. “GMV has grown on average 15% every week. Jokr now operates about 200 micro-fulfillment centers across 15 cities.”
Yassir raises $30M from WndrCo, DN Capital, and others for its lgeria-focused super app which encompasses ride-hailing and last-mile delivery. “Over 3M people and 40K partners in all its markets now use the platform.”
School Lunches. Yay Lunch raises $12M from Valor Siren Ventures for its managed marketplace that facilitates low costs, personalized lunches for students at partner schools from a network of in-market restaurants. “Our goal is to remove obstacles for everyone involved in providing kids with better-for-you meals that excite them. We're thrilled to offer affordable meals made with real ingredients and made fresh locally everyday.”
Social Media. Zepeto raises $150M from Softbank at a >$1B valuation for its metaverse platform that heavily features virtual fashion items for avatars. “Has 2M daily active users. Users can voice chat with each other and roam through virtual spaces such as a haunted house, a school classro, etc. Some 1.5B virtual fashion items are sold on Zepeto.”
Used Cars.
Motorway raises $190M from Index and Iconiq for its marketplace that allows consumers to sell their cars to dealerships in the UK. “Has a network of 4K professional car dealers using the platform and claims it has booked a 300% uplift in Q3 sales to $411M compared with $105M last year. Some 100K used cars have been sold on Motorway since launch.”
Spinny raises $280M from Tiger Global and Abu Dhabi Growth Fund at a $1.75B valuation for its India-focused used car marketplace that is similar to Carvana.
Used Watches. Watchbox raises $165M from Michael Jordan, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and others at a $1B valuation for its Carvana-like marketplace for luxury watches. “The company is on pace for $300M in net revenue this year, and could seek an IPO in the future. WatchBox has an inventory valued at $150M. Rather than serving as a marketplace for peer-to-peer transactions, the company buys and trades luxury watches from sellers.”
Video. Rumble agrees to go public via SPAC. Is a competitor to YouTube that is favored by Republicans and claims 36M monthly active users.
Software
AR Commerce.
Dent Reality raises $3.4M from Pi Labs for its AR software that allows grocers to build in-store navigation experiences for their shoppers.
3DLook raises $6.5M from Almaz Capital for it AI-driven body measuring and fit software. “Brands that use 3DLook’s solutions have seen 30% decreases in return rates, while increasing conversions 4x YoY.”
B2B Commerce.
Pepper raises $16M from Index Ventures (led by myself) for its inventory ordering platform for restaurants. “In one year, Pepper has built a network that represents 20K unique buyers that bring in over $1B in sales altogether.”
Procurated raises $10M from Greycroft for its software platform that allows public procurement to review and research vendors, similar to Yelp. “Government and education buyers spend $1.5T annually but have lacked reliable performance data to help make informed decisions.”
Influencer Marketing. Tagger raises $15M from Five Elms Capital for its platform for brands that helps them plan campaigns, connect with influencers, and measure results. “The company enjoyed more than 100% growth in both 2020 and 2021.”
Personalization. Particular Audience raises $7.5M from Equity Venture Partners for its product discovery tool
Restaurants. SpotHopper raises $14M from TVC Capital for its restaurant-focused software suite that encompasses online order, marketing, etc. “Is used by 3K customers.”
Fintech
BNPL.
Kueski raises $202M in equity and debt from StepStone Group for its Mexico-focused BNPL service. “Reached the milestone of integrating thousands of merchants (such as Steve Madden, Sally Beauty, and Walmart) into its BNPL ecosystem. That’s up from 49 at the beginning of the year. 1M unique users that have transacted with us through one of our financial products.”
Simpl raises $40M from Valar Ventures and IA Ventures for its India-focused BNPL service. “Has grown its monthly active merchants and active user base by 10x in the past 18 months. Over 7K brands now use Simpl.”
Pace raises $40M from Marubeni Ventures and Atinum Partners for its Singapore-based BNPL service that is available at 3K point of sales in 4 Asian markets.
TruePay raises $32M from Addition for it’s Brazil-based B2B BNPL product that allows companies to easily extend credit to their own business customers, with a focus on financing inventory purchases. “Has a merchant base that is “in the thousands” after just 5 months of operations. Growth, its founders say, has fluctuated MoM from 100% to 200% in 2021.”
Cancellation Prevention. Butter raises $7M from Atomic for its software platform that helps recover subscription customers who accidentally churn due to payment failures. “False declines are estimated to be a $443B problem.”
Checkout. Bolt acquires Tipser, a company powering direct checkout on any digital surface including publications, price comparison sites, etc, for ~$200M.
Neobanks.
Payments.
MoonPay raises $555M from Tiger Global and Coatue at a $3.4B valuation. Provides crypto payments infrastructure that enables a simple experience for converting between fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies using all common forms of payment including credit card. “Has processed more than $2B in transactions to date.”
Mr. Yum raises $65M from Tiger Global for its QR code-based payments platform for restaurants. “Has 1.5K venues on the platform and 13M users. Restaurants using Mr. Yum have increased their average order value by 20% to 40%.”
Sales Tax Calculation. Fonoa raises $20M from OMERS Ventures for its sales tax calculation API that cover 100 countries. “Company has surpassed 300M tax transactions per year.”
Logistics
Fulfillment.
Deliverr raises $250M from Tiger Global at a $2B valuation for its marketplace for fulfillment space that aims to distribute a customer’s inventory as close as it can to their end customers to minimize shipping speed and cost. “Company says it’s set to facilitate more than $2.5B in annualized GMV by the end of the year and that its clients include merchants on platforms like Walmart, Amazon, Shopify, Target and eBay.”
Everstox raises $23M from Acton Capital for its distribution fulfillment network serving ecommerce companies. Now has 50 partner warehouses in 7 countries.
Parcel Delivery. iMile Delivery raises $40M from Bytedance, the parent compay of TikTok, at a $350M valuation. Operates a delivery startup that services Chinese ecommerce companies selling into the Middle East.
Sneaker Authentication. Ebay acquires Sneaker Con Digital’s sneaker authentication operations as part of an effort to increase trust of buying sneakers on Ebay.
Product of the Week
I got a Tonal recently as part of moving into a house. It’s a gamechanger when it comes to working out at home. The killer feature is that you never need to think about how much weight to lift for a particular movement. The machine figures out your optimal weight at any given time and tracks everything. Highly recommend the investment, which has me convinced I’ll never go to a gym again. Buy it here.