Daily Consumer #8 - 3D Websites May Be the Next Big Thing in Ecommerce
Plus a lot of funding activity for emerging brands.
My Work
3D Websites May Be the Next Big Thing in Ecommerce
This week, I learned about a website builder called Muse.place. Muse has built a website builder, in some ways similar to Squarespace, but specific to 3D websites. This has only recently become possible as modern web browsers have adopted WebGL, a framework that enables interactive 2D and 3D graphics without the use of plug-ins.
Since releasing their product a few weeks ago, Muse has seen several small ecommerce brands experiment with building their online stores in 3D. You can see an example here (image below).
The concept of fully immersive digital stores is a powerful one to consider. Having a differentiated store experience is central to building a strong and differentiated brand online. Muse supercharges this by allowing brands to create a 3D space to present themselves and their products, complete with background audio and other store “props”.
Muse has some other fascinating capabilities. For example, their platform allows browser users to explore a 3D website together. Theoretically, an online store could staff up their website with a sales associate to guide a prospective customer through their discovery process.
Muse is a very early stage startup. They will be releasing more ecommerce capabilities over the coming months. It’s also very early days for the trend of 3D websites that they are enabling but is undoubtedly something to watch.
Community
No requests this week.
News
Advertising.
Twitter rollouts out ‘Super Follows’ which allows users to pay for access to other user’s private tweets.
Google is rolling out some major changes in the Chrome browser Beta program. New tabs will now feature suggested activities based on past behavior, including going to a retailer’s website where you had left your shopping cart filled with things you may like to purchase at a later date.
BNPL players are trying to build their own advertising businesses.
B2B Commerce. Boeing crosses $1B milestone for its parts ecommerce business. 85% of their customers now use their self-serve ecommerce platform where they can access 16M parts. B2B commerce is moving online.
BNPL.
Amazon partners with Affirm to allow US-based shoppers to checkout with buy now, pay later for carts >$50. Affirm’s market cap was up 40%+ on the news. More insight here.
Global-e, a leading cross-border e-commerce platform, partners with Klarna. Klarna will now be available to all merchants selling internationally on the Global-e platform.
Category Expansion. Wilson, the sporting goods brand known for its tennis rackets and basketballs, is expanding into fashion. “To sell its new sportswear line online, Wilson has implemented a streetwear-style drop model. It’s also pursuing high-profile fashion collaborations: in July, Wilson launched a Louis Vuitton basketball it created with Virgil Abloh for the NBA Finals.”
First Party Data.
Instagram will soon require users to share their birthdays. Perhaps the beginning of Facebook needing to directly ask users for data as they can’t amass it from third-parties due to privacy law changes?
TikTok launches its Creator Marketplace API. The API allows partnered marketing companies to access TikTok’s first-party data about audience demographics, growth trends, best-performing videos and real-time campaign reporting for the first time. Companies can then bring this data back into their own platforms, to augment the insights they’re already providing to their own customer base.
Ben Evans shares some thoughtful thinking about the evolving privacy landscape and the impact on advertising. “‘1p good / 3p bad’ means that it’s OK for the New York Times to know that you read ten New York Times travel pieces and show you a travel ad, but not OK for the New Yorker to know that and show you the same ad. Why, exactly, is that a policy objective?”
Food and Beverage. Chipotle is making its own plant-based meat, starting with chorizo.
Gaming Commerce.
Vans is setting up shop in Roblox, the ultra-popular virtual world game played by kids. “The action sports apparel brand is launching interactive experience ‘Vans World,’ a persistent location and ‘skatepark experience’ in Roblox's virtual world. Fans will have the opportunity in the 3D space to practice skate moves and to try on and purchase exclusive Vans gear.”
Burberry partnered with Blankos, another virtual world game, to drop Burberry branded virtual goods that are NFTs which can be traded. They sold out quickly.
Grocery. Save Mart is rolling out a new commerce app powered by Swiftly across its 202 stores which will enable personalized experiences across In-Store Shopping, Click & Collect, Delivery, and Endless Aisle shopping.
Influencer-Driven Commerce.
Adidas launches Patrick Mahomes’ signature line.
Kanye West partners with luxury brand Balenciaga to produce merchandise for his latest album ‘Donda’.
Kin Euphorics signs Bella Hadid as an investor and advisor. “She’ll consult on marketing strategy and materials, formulation, development and distribution, as well as, of course, appear in the brand’s marketing materials.”
Logistics. FedEx is becoming a marketplace where they allow independent delivery companies, of which they have 5.6K partners, to win exclusive contracts to operate certain ground delivery routes. “The owners collect a fee for each package their fleets drop off, but they’re entirely responsible for hiring drivers, buying trucks, and dealing with all the issues that come with running a small business. Prices for routes have increased 50% from only a few years ago, but they still may bring returns of more than 20% a year. Patton predicts most contractors will see their sales double over the next three years.”
Micromobility. Best Buy begins selling electric bikes and scooters from Bird (my portfolio company), Unagi, Segway-Ninebot, and other brands online. “More customers also are looking for ways to efficiently and sustainably commute. As we grow this selection, we look forward to helping customers find the right products to fit their needs and supporting them as they hit the road safely.”
Neobanks. Walgreens launches Scarlet, a Walgreens-branded bank account and debit card. “Accountholders will receive 3% Walgreens cash rewards on eligible purchases at Walgreens and Duane Reade stores, Walgreens.com, and the Walgreens mobile app. (Other benefits include) a $10 statement credit for first $10 spent; free two-day early direct deposit; free ability to add cash at Walgreens and Duane Reade locations with barcode reload; free withdrawals at more than 55,000 ATMs nationwide.” Stores are becoming the new bank branches?
New Cars. Porsche is adding all of its new car inventory to its online car marketplace. Car buying is going online.
Payments.
Linktree, an Index portfolio company, partners with PayPal to enable payments for their Commerce Links capability. Commerce Links allow users to take payments directly on their Linktree profile without opening a new browser or tab.
PayPal is looking to launch stock trading for its users. Does growing interest in investing hamper ecommerce as consumers choose to invest over spend?
Resale.
Restaurants.
As mentioned before, the restaurant industry is having its ecommerce moment. George Jacobs, the founder of Acelerate, shares a presentation on why restaurants have to go “all in” on delivery.
Chipotle and Burger King revamp their loyalty offerings which are tied to their native mobile apps and reward customers for both in-store and delivery purchases. Chipotle’s program now has 24M members.
Retention Marketing. Omnisend shares an Ecommerce Statistics Report with findings on marketing performance across channels. “Automations—email workflows triggered by a user behavior, such as abandoning a shopping cart—convert at 33.19%, an increase from 29.75% in 2020. They generated 32% of all email marketing orders while accounting for only 2.4% of email sends.”
Same-Day Delivery. GoPuff is partnering with Hyatt, the hotel chain. “As a pilot program in 4 US markets, guests staying at participating Hyatt Place properties can now experience fast and free delivery of thousands of curated items, all within 30 minutes with GoPuff’s local micro-fulfillment centers.”
Trust and Safety. More insight into Amazon’s banning of 50K+ Chinese marketplace sellers due to fake reviews and other policy violations.
Wholesale. Pre-ordering is a growing behavior as it allows suppliers to have better visibility into how much inventory they need to produce. Online B2B marketplaces like Faire are facilitating this behavior. “In one example of a changing marketplace, nearly 50% of apparel retailers on Faire have placed pre-orders in the past year, with the majority spending up to 25% of their inventory budget on pre-orders.”
Funding and Exits
Brands
Alcohol. Bright Cellars raises $11M from Cleveland Avenue for its subscription-based wine brand with the average bottle costing $20-25.
Apparel. Unless, a “zero waste” streetwear brand started by an ex-Adidas executive, raises $7.5M from Connect Ventures.
Fitness.
Whoop raises $200M from Softbank at a $3.6B valuation for its fitness tracking wristband and digital health coaching service. “The new capital will help the company compete with Amazon, Apple and Google, which each sell wearable health tracking devices. Whoop had developed ‘proprietary algorithms’ to measure strain and recovery, metrics that take into account data like heart rate variability.”
Whoop acquires Push, a connected fitness company that makes sensors to quantify weightlifting performance via metrics like speed, power, force, and acceleration.
iFit Health files to go public. Is the parent company of NordicTrack, ProForm, Freemotion, and SWEAT, among other fitness brands. “In fiscal 2021, revenue reached $1.7B, up more than 2x over 2020.”
Freebeat raises $20M from Susquehanna International Group and GSR Ventures for its connected exercise bike brand.
Food and Beverage.
Sovos Brands, which owns Rao’s Homemade pasta sauce and Noosh Yoghurt, files to go public. Booked $650M revenue in the last 12 months.
Stocked Dreamery raises $20M from Astanor Ventures and Northzone for its plant-based cheese products made out of fermented legumes (pea and fava).
Poppi raises $13.5M from CAVU Ventures, Russell Westbrook, the Chainsmokers, and others for its prebiotic soda brand. Is available in over 7.5K retail locations, including Target, Safeway, Kroger, Publix, Whole Foods and Amazon.com.
Compound Foods raises $4.5M from Lowercarbon Capital, SVLC, and others for its synthetic biology-led approach to creating coffee with ambitions to reduce the environmental impact of coffee consumption.
Taika raises $2.2M from Obvious Ventures for its brand that offers functional blends of coffee, tea and adaptogens.
Kreatures of Habit raises $2.2M from Gary Vaynerchuk for its plant-based instant oatmeal.
Footwear. Allbirds, the sustainability-focused footwear brand, files to go public. “The company plans to list on the Nasdaq (BIRD) and reports a $21 million net loss on $118 million in revenue for the first half of 2021.”
Haircare. Olaplex, the bond-building haircare brand, files to go public. Generated $270M revenue in H1 2021, up from $100M in H1 2020.
Micromobility. VanMoof raises $128M from Hillhouse Capital for its e-bike brand. Claims to have almost 200K bikes on the road currently, with the goal of getting 10M people on VanMoof e-bikes in the next five years.
Oralcare. Quip raises $100M from Cowen Sustainable Investments for its oralcare brand which offers smart toothbrushes, floss, and clear aligners. Claims to have over 7.5M users.
Sleep. Eight Sleep raises $86M from Valor Equity Partners. Will invest the capital to give their sleep products even more diagnostic capabilities and to expand internationally. “2021 revenue is currently on track to triple versus 2020.” I have one of these mattresses and will attest to how amazing it is.
Smartphones. Humane raises $100M from Tiger Global for its next-generation smartphone. The company is quite secretive on its plans but is notably led by very senior former directors of software engineering and design from Apple who worked on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac over 20+ years.
Vitamins. Catalent acquires Bettera, a gummy vitamins brand, for $1B. “Bettera’s sales last year totaled about $150 million, according to people familiar with the matter, and are forecast to grow at least 20% annually.”
Marketplaces
Brand Rollups.
Berlin Brands Group raises $700M of debt and equity from Bain Capital and others at greater than $1B valuation. Berlin Brands Group owns 14 brands including home sports gear maker Capital Sports, home appliance firm Klarstein and gardening brand Blumfeldt which sell their products on Amazon.com and other online platforms. Revenue rose 54% to $396M last year.
Olsam raises $165M of debt and equity from Apeiron Investment Group to buy up both consumer and B2B merchants selling on Amazon.
Heroes raises $200M of debt and equity from Crayhill Capital Management to do the same. Existing brands in its portfolio cover categories like babies, pets, sports, personal health and home and garden categories.
Homes. Flat.mx raises $35M in debt and equity from Anthemis and 500 Startups. Operates an online platform to buy and sell homes which is similar to Opendoor in the US.
Jewelry. Brilliant Earth Group files to go public. Is an online retailer of ethically sourced jewelry. “It plans to list on the Nasdaq (BRLT) and reports $11 million of net income on $163 million in revenue for the first half of 2021.”
Live Shopping. Flip raises $28M from Streamlined Ventures for its mobile app that combines live commerce of beauty and wellness products with real customer reviews to improve the buying experience. “Flip is now signing an average of 20 new brands per week and has already gained partnerships with Unilever. Agha expects to hit 500 brands by this year’s holiday season. In addition, the company has 1M downloads and in the last quarter shopped out 30K orders.”
Logistics.
Gatik raises $85M from Koch Industries for its autonomous fixed-route robotic delivery service. Is already generating revenue hauling consumer goods and groceries in robotic trucks for Walmart in Arkansas and Louisiana and for Canada’s Loblaw supermarkets in Toronto.
Borzo raises $35M from Mubadala for its “crowdsourced” same-day delivery service. “Has a customer base of 2M users, 2.5M couriers and operates in 10 countries, including Brazil, India, Indonesia, and others. It claims to be fulfilling over 3M orders per month, while its annual gross revenue run rate approaches $150M.”
Petcare. Petlove raises $150M from Riverwood Capital for its Brazil-based marketplace for products and services for pet owners. Will invest in expanding its logistics network and to grow their subscription program, which is the first of its kind in the country.
Same-Day Delivery.
Yandex acquires Uber’s stake in their joint food delivery and self-driving businesses and grows its stake in their joint ride-share business for $1B.
Cajoo raises $40M from Carrefour, the French supermarket chain, for its France-based 15-minute grocery delivery service that is live in 10 cities.
Arive raises $7M from 468 Capital and La Famiglia VC for its Germany-based marketplace that delivers high-end consumer brands across fashion, home, and electronics within 30 minutes.
Used Cars. Carsome raises $170M from MediaTek and Catcha Group at a $1.3B valuation. Operates an online platform to buy and sell used cars similar to Carvana in the US.
Vacation Homes. Kocomo raises $6M from AllVP and Vine Ventures for its marketplace that allows people to buy partial ownership in vacation homes.
Virtual Reality. Bytedance, the parent company of TikTok, acquires Pico, a VR headset manufacturer. The big internet players seem to continue to be bullish about VR with Facebook continuing to invest heavily in Oculus.
Software
Accounting. Synder raises $2M from TMT Investments for its accounting platform focused on ecommerce businesses.
Consumer Insights. Disqo raises $85M from Sageview Capital for its cloud-based measurement software and research APIs that power consumer insights for over 175 large brands.
CPG Analytics. Zebra Technologies acquires Antuit AI, a provider of AI-powered software specific to forecasting and merchandising for the retail and CPG industries.
Customer Support. Trengo raises $36M from Insight Partners and Peak for its multi-channel customer support platform. “Trengo tripled its customer base from 700 to 2K in the past year and is processing 12.5M messages per month for 20K users.
Ecommerce Platform. Duda, a website builder similar to Wix, acquires Snipcart, a startup that enables businesses to add a shopping cart to their websites.
Restaurants.
Owner.com raises $10M from SaaStr Fund for its free online ordering software platform for restaurants that monetizes by charging consumers a 5% convenience fee when they order from the website. “The company has reached a seven-figure run-rate and over 105% monthly revenue retention across over 700 restaurant locations. Has transacted over $18M.”
Forward Kitchens raises $2.5M from Y Combinator, Floodgate, and others for its turnkey platform for restaurants to set up an online presence, including food delivery, where they can create multiple digital storefronts easily and without having to contact each delivery platform.
Retention Marketing. Intuit is rumored to be acquiring Mailchimp for >$10B.
SEO Marketing. Botify raises $55M from InfraVia Growth for its platform that analyzes how well a website ranks and offers suggestions on how to improve SEO ranking.
Subscriptions. Prive raises $1.7M from XFund and Bling Capital for its customizable ecommerce subscriptions platform for D2C brands. This space is attracting a lot of interest from early-stage investors…
TV Marketing. Pixalate raises $18M from Western Technology Investment and Javelin Venture Partners for its fraud protection, privacy and compliance analytics platform that monitors connected television and mobile advertising.
Fintech
BNPL.
Checkout. Arrow raises $1M from Next Billion Ventures and Plug and Play Ventures for its specialized checkout solution that simplifies the online shopping payments process.
Neobanks. Point raises $46.5M from Valar Ventures for its debit-focused neobank that still offers rewards.
Product of the Week
The Hypervolt is an awesome portable massage gun that helps you break up soreness. Big fan. Buy it here.