Hero secures $10m Series A funding for its omnichannel retail technology

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Aug 2, 2019

Hero, a London-based startup whose mission is to build “the e-commerce layer for physical retail”, has announced the recent closing of a Series A round of $10 million.

Led by S28 Capital in San Francisco, with participation from Vectr Ventures in Hong Kong and DIP Capital in London, the investment will be used to support the company’s growth ambitions.

Kent Ho, founder and general partner at S28 Capital, will join the Hero board of directors as part of the deal.

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The new investors join existing backers such as Yasunobu Kyogoku, former chief investment officer of Fast Retailing; Iain McDonald, non executive director of Boohoo.com and The Hut Group; and the family office of Sir Dickson Poon, chairman of luxury department store Harvey Nichols.

Founded in 2015, Hero’s first innovation was an online chat app which allowed in-store sales staff to instantly connect with online shoppers via chat and live streaming.

Designed to mirror the human interactions that take place in the physical retail experience, the app was initially launched with Harvey Nichols. Now some of the largest retail groups in the world, including Nike, LVMH, Richemont, Levi’s and Gap Inc, have teamed up with the company.

Hero is now working on a new technology that will help retailers accelerate their digital integration.

“To find sustained growth, modern stores must be digitally-enabled; to sell online, to motivate staff with new compensation models, to locate and deliver stock faster, to build a 360 view of the customer, to enable effortless payment and seamless returns, to nurture client relationships through clienteling and to ensure that every single conversation — whether in-store or in person — turns into a sale,” said Hero founder Adam Levene in a blog post.

“This round of investment will fuel the creation of new innovation that accelerates this digital transformation, while marking our dedication to building a global company that enables our retail partners to thrive in the long-term — maximizing what has always been the physical store’s most unique advantage; the ability to build human connections, now in new ways.”