US-based retail services provider B8ta closed a $50m series C round on Thursday that featured department store operator Macy’s and was led by venture capital firm Evolution Ventures.
Khosla Ventures, Peak State Ventures and several unnamed, existing shareholders also took part in the round.
Founded in 2015, B8ta operates spaces in brick-and-mortar stores for consumers to try out products. The approach aims to drive footfall in physical retail locations and the company claims to have facilitated more than 50 million such interactions to date.
B8ta currently operates 19 locations and expects to increase this to 25 by the end of the year, also adding its first international space in Dubai. Its clients include Macy’s and toy retailer Toys’R’Us.
In conjunction with the series C round, the company will begin selling its retail-as-a-service platform, Ark Marketplace, directly to retailers and landlords, enabling them to manage their own experiential spaces in stores.
The company also plans on launching a fashion and lifestyle-focused retail offering, called Forum, this month.
Macy’s previously led a $19m series B round for B8ta in July 2018, with participation from real estate developer CapitaLand, Sound Ventures, Palm Drive Capital, Graphene Ventures, Khosla Ventures and Plug and Play Ventures.
B8ta obtained $7m in series A funding led by TriplePoint Capital in 2016, with contributions from Khosla, Fifth Wall Ventures, Macerich and Eniac Ventures. The company had reportedly earlier secured $4.5m in seed funding from unspecified investors.
