Shoptalk Secures $2 Million Venture Capital Investment to Launch Shoptalk Europe

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Published on Monday, 23 January 2017 06:19

Shoptalk, which organizes the most important U.S. event for innovation in retail and ecommerce, today announced $2 million in venture capital funding to support the launch of Shoptalk Europe and announced the first group of expected premiere Shoptalk Europe speakers.

The investment was led by New York-based Primary Venture Partners and included participation from San Francisco-based Commerce Ventures as well as individual partners at Bain Capital Ventures and New Enterprise Associates (NEA). The total funding raised by Shoptalk now exceeds $5 million.

Shoptalk Europe will be held at the Bella Center in Copenhagen on October 9-11, 2017 with Galeries Lafayette, Google, Harrods, Hudson's Bay Company, IKEA, Metro, Pinterest, Tesco and Other Retail and Brand Executives as well as CEOs of Innovative Startups Among Early Confirmed Speakers.

"Shoptalk has successfully reframed the conversation for the U.S. retail and ecommerce ecosystem to focus on disruptive technologies and trends as well as reset the standard for industry events," said Ben Sun, general partner at Primary Venture Partners. "We believe a similar opportunity exists to deliver incredible value in Europe, and we're excited to support the launch of Shoptalk Europe with our investment."

Shoptalk Europe is the first large-scale pan-European event focused on innovation in retail and ecommerce, and the evolution of how consumers discover, shop for and buy all of their physical goods, from grocery to fashion and everything in between. It brings together leaders from established retailers and brands, disruptive startups, leading technology and Internet companies, venture capital investors and other key stakeholders. Shoptalk Europe expects more than 2,000 attendees at its inaugural event from all of Europe, all parts of the commerce ecosystem and all industry verticals who will come together to learn, network, collaborate and evolve.

Early confirmed Shoptalk Europe speakers represent established retailers as well as startups that have raised over $1 billion to disrupt traditional retail and ecommerce, and include:

• 3D Hubs CEO, Bram de Zwart
• Appear Here Founder & CEO, Ross Bailey
• Balderton Capital Partner, Daniel Waterhouse
• Casper Co-Founder & CEO, Philip Krim
• Depop CEO, Maria Raga
• Eve Sleep Founder & CEO, Jas Bagniewski
• Fyndiq CEO & Co-Founder, Dinesh Nayar
• Galeries Lafayette VP Corporate Development and Innovation, Edoardo Manitto
• Google VP of Product Management, Shopping & Travel, Jonathan Alferness
• Harrods Managing Director, Michael Ward
• Highland Europe Co-Founder & General Partner, Irena Goldenberg
• Home24 Founder & CEO, Dr. Philipp Kreibohm
• House of Fraser Chief Information Officer, Julian Burnett
• Hudson's Bay Company (Brands include Saks Fifth Avenue, Hudson's Bay, Lord & Taylor, Gilt, Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH, GALERIA Kaufhof, and Galeria INNO) CEO, Jerry Storch
• IKEA Switzerland CEO, Simona Scarpaleggia
• JUNIQE Founder & Managing Director, Marc Pohl
• Kolonial.no Co-founder & CEO, Karl Munthe-Kaas
• Lesara CEO, Roman Kirsch
• LoveCrafts Founder, Edward Griffith
• Lyst Co-Founder & CEO, Chris Morton
• METRO Accelerator | METRO Managing Director, Dr. Alexander Zumdieck
• Mister Spex Founder & CEO, Dirk Graber
• Mymuesli Co-Founder, Max Wittrock
• Newstore Founder and CEO, Stephan Schambach (Founder of Demandware and Intershop)
• Notonthehighstreet.com CEO, Simon Belsham
• Outfittery Founder & Managing Director, Anna Alex
• Picnic Founder, Joris Beckers
• Pinterest President, Tim Kendall
• Plug and Play Founder & CEO, Saeed Amidi
• REWE Group Chief Digital Officer, Jean-Jacques van Oosten
• Space10 Founder & CEO, Carla Cammilla Hjort
• Brillen.de Co-Founder & Member of the Board, Daniel Thung
• Tesco Managing Director Online, Adrian Letts
• Thread Co-Founder & CEO, Kieran O'Neill
• Tictail Co-Founder & CEO, Carl Waldekranz
• TCV General Partner, John Doran
• Vestiaire Collective Founder & CEO, Sébastien Fabre
• windeln.de Co-CEO, Konstantin Urban

A list of current speakers can be found at http://shoptalkeurope.com/speakers.

"The support of leading investors that have funded some of the world's most successful and innovative direct-to-consumer and commerce tech companies, as well as early traction with speakers from highly respected retailers and startups, underscores the early and growing buzz for Shoptalk Europe," said Anil D. Aggarwal, founder and chief executive officer of Shoptalk. "With different countries and regions in very different stages of disruption, a pan-European conversation bringing all major hubs of innovation together is critical to understanding and implementing new strategies. Those who are not part of this conversation risk falling behind both their existing competitors and new entrants, as well as failing to meet the needs and expectations of their customers."

Shoptalk and Shoptalk Europe were created by the founders of Money20/20 and Money20/20 Europe, the largest fintech events globally and in Europe.

About Shoptalk

Shoptalk organizes the world's most important events for retail and ecommerce innovation. Held annually in both the U.S. and Europe, Shoptalk events represent unprecedented gatherings of individuals and companies reshaping how consumers discover, shop and buy. Each event provides a platform for large retailers and branded manufacturers, startups, tech companies, investors, media and analysts to learn, collaborate and evolve. The next Shoptalk will be held on March 19-22, 2017 at the Aria in Las Vegas, followed by Shoptalk Europe, which will take place on October 9-11, 2017 at the Bella Center in Copenhagen. For more information, visit www.shoptalk.com and www.shoptalkeurope.com.